Many of you, after seeing the photos, wanted to know when this powerful conversation was going to be released to the public. I’m so excited to share my conversation with Fr. Malachy from the National Eucharistic Congress in Indy. I was blessed to be one of the 10 podcasters invited to podcast live at the NEC and, as per usual, my conversation with Fr. Malachy was full of joy and tears!

Today, I have a heartwarming conversation with my dear friend, Fr Malachy, a devoted Franciscan Friar of Renewal.

From our first meeting at the JP2 Healing Center in Tallahassee, Florida, to walking barefoot in reverence during a Eucharistic pilgrimage, our journeys have been nothing short of transformative. In this episode, we dive deep into what it means to live a life filled with the spirit of power, inspired by St. Paul’s teachings.

Fr Malachy shares his recent experience of carrying the Eucharist from New Jersey to Indianapolis, recounting the grace-filled moments and the profound connections made along the way. His stories are a testament to the power of faith and the radical change it brings to our lives.

We explore the importance of daily Mass, the Eucharist, and confession in achieving personal transformation. Our discussion is filled with personal stories, struggles, and triumphs, offering you practical insights and encouragement on your own faith journey.

In this episode, you will hear:

– The inspiring backstory of our friendship and spiritual journey
– The significance of the National Eucharistic Congress in revitalizing faith
– Powerful testimonies from the Eucharistic pilgrimage, including the profound act of walking barefoot in adoration
– How the spirit of power can lead to radical personal transformation
The importance of community, daily devotion, and surrendering to God’s will

 

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✈️ Join us on one of our 2025 pilgrimages:

March 10-15: Visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico with Father Zachary, a fantastic priest and friend. This affordable trip is perfectly timed for most school spring breaks.

May 12-23: Join Father Larry and me on a spiritual journey to the Holy Land. Walk in the footsteps of Christ and experience an unforgettable pilgrimage.

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Welcome back to the pew everybody. I am the host of just a guy in the pew John Edwards I’m from Memphis, Tennessee Yeah, there we go. We got some folks. I paid them to be here by the way, so someone would show up podcast that comes out each and every week called just a guy in the pew Our ministry goes around the country and we start men’s groups for men You All over the country, which because men’s groups are for men, that’s why they’re called men’s groups, but we start those all over the country.

And it’s just been a great work to do. One of my favorite things to do in that work is to do this podcast. And, when I came here, I thought about people to invite on the show. And one of the first people that came to mind was my really good friend, Father Malachy. He and I met a few years ago in Tallahassee, Florida.

We were, yeah, I didn’t pay them. Did you pay them? I didn’t, but either way we met at I am through the JP two healing center and father Malik and I have been praying together for with each other all the time. He comes and visits and. Just become a really good friend in my life. So y’all, some of you may know him from hallow.

He’s been on hollow lately. He was on, been on pints with Aquinas. He’s been on several of our episodes and it’s just a joy to have my brother in the Lord here. Father Malachy, give it up for father. Thank you, brother. Yeah. I’m going to be here with you as well. Yeah. Yeah. So today, what we really want to talk to you guys about, what we’re going to talk about, just a lot of the things we normally talk about when we’re on our prayer calls Just spending time together is this spirit of power.

St. Paul talks about, you don’t have a spirit of fear. You were given a spirit of power. And, so many of us in the world today, we wonder what can we do? You come to these things, people like father, this amazing priest or mediocre podcasters or whatever else you might see and things like that.

And you think what can I do in my life? What could I possibly do for the Lord? And the answer is so much, but we have to have this radical transformation. And that happens only by the grace of God and the things that he does in our life. Father would be the first one to tell you that what in him is the Lord and hopefully what in me, anything that’s good in me as of him.

But yeah, we wanted to talk about just the spirit of power, living radically transformed lives. And so as I was preparing for this, I, Just said, Lord, what are some quotes? What are some things to really get us started off here? And I was sharing that with father during lunch. And one of the quotes that came to my mind was from John Paul, the second Pope, John Paul, the second St.

John Paul, the second. And he says through adoration, the Christian mysteriously contributes to the radical transformation of the world. And to the sowing of the gospel, anyone who prays to the savior draws the whole world with him and raises it to God. So here we are in this Eucharistic revival in this Eucharistic Congress.

And like I said, my buddy over here had the extreme privilege to carry our Lord from New Jersey, basically to here. And so he’s got some good stories about that, that I know he wants to share. And father that’s really what I want to start off with. Like when you hear that quote that we talked about from the great Pope and the great saint.

And what you’ve done recently, tell us a little bit about that and just the grace that you found in that. Yeah. Thank you again. Gifted to be here with you, bro. Yeah, man. Dude, bro. Dude, bro. Yeah, seriously, a gift to be here because we’re in this gifted time in the life of the church. that we’re referring to as Eucharistic Revival and our community, the Franciscan Friars of Renewal, so blessed to have accompanied these four different Eucharistic pilgrimage routes throughout the country as chaplains.

And I actually didn’t walk from Jersey. Sorry. I did walk from Notre Dame though. I’ve never been to Indiana before, and I’ve never seen so much corn in my life. But it was a total gift to be accompanying Jesus with these Perpetual pilgrims on the Marian route, and we were blessed because we got to be the last route to arrive here in Indianapolis, walking into St.

John the Evangelist Parish, which is just across the street from this convention center. And I was there carrying the Lord and the pilgrims had decided a mile away from the end of their pilgrimage, which had been happening for 65 days, journeying with Jesus. Adoring him spending time in his presence and inviting others to come and just to accompany the Lord on the way And at the last mile they said we want to take our shoes off and walk the last mile barefoot So I was like, yeah, i’m a franciscan.

I was like, I love it bare feet. Let’s go And so we did that and then as we were walking closer and closer It was like people were just pouring out and the streets were just lined. And I was so aware, cause I’m sitting here, I’m holding the Eucharist. I’m like, Jesus, just like right here. And I’m like, like the gifts gift of being able to be with you, Lord, in this moment.

And as we walked through the crowd, we came and I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was just following the guy who was in front of me and looking at Jesus, it’s Oh but we had a moment, we turned around on the steps of St. John, the evangelist parish. And the entire like streets were just cut.

It was, a shutdown. It was just filled with people and all the people of God are out there and just lifted up our Lord. And I just was, as I was hearing this about, this, like this way in which our transformation through this encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist leads to a lifting up, a raising up of Christ in the world again, so that he becomes visible and right.

Like Eucharistic revival is about that encounter with Jesus. And so this entire like time and I had this gift and I was like literally holding Jesus up and my heart was just so moved with this reality. Not only that when Jesus is lifted up, right? That we have this gift of participating in that, but that when he is lifted up, he draws all people to himself.

And I was looking out on like religious lady priest. This like multi flora like ethnic group of people that you’d never have gathered together in this way. And at the center of it was Jesus Christ and the Eucharist. Drawing us to himself. And we’re talking about, that’s like spirit of power.

It’s like, why is he drawing us Lord? Like why are hearts moved? Why? When we’re like randomly walking through, the middle of Indiana and we’re like, passing by this this college campus and these kids are there and they just stop. And they’re sitting here looking and realizing, that here we are coming into their world, into their midst.

And this is the desire of God from the beginning, right? It’s like he created this world so that it would be the landscape, the sort of like theatrical, like setting for this love story, this relationship with humanity. And even the fact that we totally screwed that up, and I keep doing that, which is I love confession.

Me too. It was like, in the one week that I went 10 days, I was out on the road with him. It was like, I had to go to confession twice in 10 days. So I’m like, Jesus, I’m less close to you, but I keep on just like sending. But he keeps receiving us in his mercy and he keeps coming to us in his mercy.

And so this like revival, this grace of revival is the grace of an encounter with this love that comes to us in our poverty, in our weakness, in our real world lives and transforms them in a way that when you meet him, like you never go away the same. And I was thinking last night, at the opening ceremony, it was like Bishop Cousins praying in front of the I’m just Lord, come and have your way.

Come and have your way in my heart. And I think that’s what the beauty of this quote about Eucharistic adoration. It’s like this power and this revival and this just transformation is not something generic. It’s not something that’s just like out there. It’s right here. It’s my heart.

And if we want to see revival in the life of the church, how is that going to happen? It’s going to happen through the revival, the revivification, the transformation of my heart by encountering his heart, which is waiting for us in the Eucharist. And that’s it, and it’s and I just I remember standing there on those steps, holding up our Lord and just as blessing going forth and it was the last of these four routes.

It was making the sign of a cross over this nation, the solemn benediction of this entire country and finishing that last moment of blessing and just giving that blessing and just realizing that this power has gone forth. Power has gone forth. Like we might not even be aware of what that means yet.

But the fact that pilgrimage happened, the fact that our Lord crossed this entire land, North, South, East, West means that power has gone forth. The word of God made flesh has walked over our country. Isn’t that crazy? Just think about that. Like Jesus, Jesus has come into this world and he’s drawing us to himself.

And he’s calling us, each of us calling us. And it’s for a reason. And I think that’s what we were like talking about, right? It’s like, why is he calling us to us? Why is he drawing us to us? It’s because he wants this radical transformation to become flesh in us now today. Yeah. And what I see in you when you’re talking about this is just an incredible zeal.

And I know this was, you have a relationship with the Lord, not only in the Eucharist, but the person of Jesus Christ, just the person that you’ve met in your journey. Neither one of us, right? And this is what I really wanted to talk about a little bit too is You know, so often we can see people that is priests or deacons or whatever and say, man, those people must have come out of the womb with holy water and a Bible, right?

Like they just, they must have been made that way. And yeah, that’s not the case. The greatest saints are some of the worst centers. You think about saying St. Augustine, And some of the others in history, but it’s this zeal this radical transformation only happens when we meet the person of Jesus Christ.

That’s what happens in all of us or should happen. And if it doesn’t, then that’s why we’re doing this. Because I tell people all the time if you want people to know Jesus, then they have to see him in you. They have to see him, right? It’s not just enough to talk about it. You have to display Jesus in your life and that passion is what draws people and father i’m, so grateful for this revival because I travel the country a lot And I go in a lot of the churches and we’re on autopilot right just Hurry up father.

You’re taking too long. I gotta get a kroger. I gotta watch the football game I gotta there’s so much of that and we wonder sometimes like why aren’t more people becoming catholic? But if we ask ourselves If I walked in and I saw that, would I want to be a part of it? Would I believe that the people that were in there actually believe in what they say they believe?

Yeah, and the only reason the only way that happens is if we finally surrender our hearts over to the lord completely Yeah in our brokenness and our wounds and our mistakes and our failures. I mean you didn’t have a perfect life I didn’t have a perfect life Eight years ago. I was sitting in a jail cell

On the verge of taking my own life You

And yet, here I am sitting on stage with you in a place filled with 55, 000 Catholics that need Jesus and know it. And I’m not here because of my own gifts or skills or accords, I’m here because Jesus came to me and said, there’s another way and I haven’t forgotten you and your brokenness or in your mess.

I have a purpose for your life. And I desire a relationship with you. Yeah. And this is something that we need so much in our church. And the only way that we’re ever going to have that true revival is if we finally surrender ourselves to the Lord and cast off the cares of the world. And when anybody else thinks, I don’t care, there’s one person I have to answer to when I die.

And it’s not anybody in this room. It’s not you. It’s not my wife, although she probably runs a close second, but It’s just, that’s where we got to get to, and that’s what my heart longs for in myself more and more each day, because I’m not complete, I’m nowhere near that. You aren’t either. We pray together.

We know how broken we are. Yeah. But St. John Paul the second goes on to say from the Eucharist comes the strength to live the Christian life with zeal and to share that with others. And that’s the thing. So many people, father, I go to these men’s conference, all this stuff and guys go, I’m tired of the way the world is.

I’m tired of this. I’m tired of that. When is somebody going to do something? When are you, because like you said, Jesus made his way up and down and left and right across this country. And how did he choose to do that? through people carrying him through their hands and feet. And that’s exactly what he said when he took the cloud elevator back to heaven.

Like when he said, you are my hands and feet, right? Go and make disciples of all nations. But it seems so many times that even in my own heart and this ministry and the work that God’s called me to, It’s like I’m waiting on someone else sometimes. And while everyone has different gifts and we need everyone, it starts with the commitment, the desire, the renewal of our relationship and the promise that I will do everything in my power in spite of the devil and all the arrows he throws.

To be the man that God called me to be yeah, and that’s my hope that we all leave here with that Yeah, that same feeling of like I’m not gonna This isn’t gonna be something where I went up the mountain and I flew down on the other side and now I’m back to my Problems and my repetitive sins and my boss.

I hate and all that stuff it’s How do I live this in my life all the time? It’s with community and it’s with sitting quietly and abiding with Jesus every day in our life. Amen. Amen, bro. That’s like Forrest Gump. That’s all I got to say about that. Oh bro. No, totally. I, and it’s funny because like people coming up and like father, like seeing all these people and it’s awesome.

This is like Catholic family where you love. But it’s also true. I know who I am and where the Lord took me from. It’s like most people get shocked. They’re like, yeah, I was expelled from high school for breaking and entering for stealing money, buying a bunch of drugs with it, selling drugs to my friends.

It’s only here because of his love, and it’s the same love. That’s like for everyone. And this is why I have so much hope with this revival. And I’ve said this again and again, the reason why I have hope for this revival is because it’s a Eucharistic revival. In other words God bless, there’s so many people working in the life of the church trying to think of what’s the things that we could do.

How could we change? Obviously, just like a culture that has in so many ways, abandoned faith, abandoned God turned away from the roots that it came from within Christianity. What could we do? And you could have so many wonderful programs. I’m sure some of them are okay. We’re making some new ones now that weren’t good.

But the fact is, it’s just simple. And the answer remains the same and will remain the same until the end of time. Just put Jesus at the center. Just put them at the center and invite people to meet him. And when they meet him, see this is the thing, it’s like when our hearts meet this heart, it burns with love for us.

We realize how much he loves us. All of a sudden, something just like shatters inside of our humanity. Like those lies that like self hatred, I’m not worthy. I’m alone. This is meaningless. The lies that like the best I can do is hope for just existing and occasionally being happy and otherwise numbing myself with a screen or numbing myself with a drink or whatever else it is.

Like I live in the South Bronx in New York City. And before you get into the Bronx, you can already smell as you’re driving down the road, the marijuana, it’s just like weed is just everywhere. And then I get into that city and I’m in walking in the neighborhood and there’s people bent over who are like, totally passed out, drugged out from fentanyl and you see this and you’re like, what is going on?

I just tried to go to the bathroom earlier in that place we had lunch at and they have a screen in front of a urinal for crying out loud. It’s like we are trying to be distracted. And what am I trying to be distracted from? What am I trying to numb? What am I running from? And I think it’s this lie that like that deepest desire in our humanity will not be satisfied and cannot be satisfied.

And at the end, we’re just all alone. And it doesn’t mean a dang thing. So you might as well just do your best and get on and look out for number one. And that lie, right? Is so contradicted and so destroyed by the presence of God and the Eucharist, because not only did he come, but he comes every single mass.

It’s nuts, bro. Just think about this, like every single day. And even here, there’s so many different masses that happened here and the king of heaven came again and again. And this humble way and this form of bread and wine to be with us to continue to be Emmanuel. It’s not enough for me to know that God was born in Bethlehem and then he walked around in Galilee and then he did amazing things like, I need to know that he’s here now today with me, because there’s still a part of my heart that tells me like, no, there’s not one who actually loves you.

There’s not someone there for you. There’s not anyone who actually sees you in that reality of his presence. So humble. Still, silent, hidden in the Eucharist, speaks to that place in my heart, breaks through that lie. And bro, when that happens, man, dude, you should have seen this last leg of the pilgrimage.

We’re coming out of holy angels. There’s a beautiful black Catholic church here in Indianapolis, and we’re walking. It’s the last three miles. And so there was another one of the priests who was carrying our Lord for the moment. So I grabbed the guitar and we just started praising God and literally like David before the arc.

There’s people dancing down the street in Indianapolis in front of Jesus and the Eucharist, just I can’t contain the joy, because this is what happens, right? We sing when we are loved and when we are in love, we dance for joy, right? When we’re in the presence of the one whom we love and being in the presence of the living God and the Eucharist, there’s nothing better in this transformation that happens in our lives.

It is meant to become the way of life. See, the one thing, the sort of like Achilles heel of a Eucharistic Congress and Eucharistic revival is that we could allow the way of life that we are invited into through this to become simply another moment of our life. And that’s not it, bro. Bro this power, this transformation, we are meant to walk in a new way of life and the world needs to see it.

Yeah. And the only way that we could continue to do it is through the Eucharist. I mean with the power of the Holy Spirit that resides in us that we all received at our baptism, right? And then if we took our confirmation seriously And we said yes, like that wasn’t just a cute thing to take a picture with the bishop at his crozier And last catholic thing I ever have to do right?

It’s not that it’s a promise to the living god who loves you So much that he says you know what you were probably in your diaper when you were baptized and you didn’t have a say But now here at the age of reason, because I love you because love without choice, isn’t love. But I ask you now to serve me or to not.

And the choice is yours. And if you say yes, then I will give you everything you need in the Holy spirit. But even my very body, I tell people all the time when we talk about Jesus, I say, look, what I’m talking about in relationship is imagine if we walked outside of this building right now and we’re not paying attention because we’re distracted and we’re about to step out in front of a bus.

And then one of your best friends in the world pushes you out of the way and falls in front of that bus and dies. You would never for the rest of your life walk away from that moment. You would never cease to quit honoring that moment or that person and remembering that person. But yet the best friend we will ever have in our life did that 2000 years ago for each and every one of us.

He pushed us out of the way. And then not only that, he knew what you said about, this can’t be just a moment, right? This can’t just be a thing with some nice pictures. And all I remember that 10 years ago when we were at that thing, what was that? Was that seek? Was that revival thing? Was that? No. He gives you the Eucharist so that every day you have what you need.

His very body. People ask me all the time, John, how have you not done cocaine in all the years that you stopped? What’s kept you from doing that? I have two answers, daily mass and our Lord in the Eucharist and a family that I would never turn my back on again. But the only reason that family means what it means is because I finally understood what Jesus was supposed to mean to me and not only what he does mean, but this Great response that I am called to respond with.

Yeah. Like you can’t just go, Oh, the Jesus on the cross. It’s nice jewelry. It’s something that we see in our church. It always has to just demand a response out of our life. And it’s not meant to just be Quietly somewhere just you and the Lord all the time in your life like a relationship with Jesus doesn’t mean you and Jesus run Off in the tulips and leave everybody else we come into that relationship with Jesus Yeah, so that he informs us of who he is So that we can be informed of who we are and then we go back into the body of Christ and then together as the body we go out and we get the lost Amen, the thing that drives me each and every day is there’s so many silent sufferers in the world You Silence suffers.

Then they’re the people that you think have it made. Since Easter, I had 12 people in our diocese in Memphis men call me or my wife, two of them cheating on their wives physically, two of them emotionally, three of them struggling with porn. Two of them called me and said, I have a gun in my lap. Tell me why I shouldn’t take my life on and on.

Because people that, and these people, if you line them up in a room full of 30 people and said, pick the people, You wouldn’t be able to pick them because they look catholic because they go to all the catholic stuff Because they check all the catholic boxes But yet every one of them was broken and keeping isolated and alone and silently suffering And how many people do we want by in our offices in our on the streets in our churches in our family?

That we know something is not right. Yeah, and we get distracted and we’re busy with other things You When in that moment, we’re always wondering what does God want me to do in my life To be present to everything around us into that person because for You may be the beginning of that relationship with christ for that person.

Amen I saw something in them that person cared and they did something for me that no one else did and it’s because they love jesus And I want to receive that and I want to do it for someone else So if you’re looking for one way right off the bat to live radically transformed lives get to daily mass And receive the lord.

How many times do these churches sit empty all day long thousands of them across? I just got back from rome right 500 churches in rome You would think when you go there’s a pilgrim like we’ll barely get in these places And there’s so many of them that had three or four people in them And our lord is waiting there giving himself every single day.

I’m here that the pain the loss the identity wounds the places that need healing i’m right here Yeah, you need nothing more than this. Amen, and I need to hear it I need to hear this like i’m in mass and i’m daydreaming and I slap myself. What are you doing? You’ve been called to the supper of the lamb, man.

God’s got a chair at his table for you right now. Take the gum out of your mouth, right? Don’t go up there and act like somebody’s handing you a Twinkie, right? If we really knew, and there’s some saints, it’s way smarter than me. They don’t know his name. But simply if we really knew what was contained in the Eucharist, we would fall on our knees and never get up again.

Yeah. And this is what we have to remind ourselves, not just for here, not just for this hour, these next three days, but building ourselves opposite that you can go out and do that battle. And for those of you who want to do that in your life, you can’t do it alone. This is one of my closest friends in the world.

And I hope you guys can tell because of our relationship, but I can’t tell you how many times this dude has called me. I’m broken. I messed up. I need prayer. And what an honor that is to do that for a priest, let alone anybody, but a priest of God. And so many times I can call him. And so Jesus doesn’t just come to us in the Eucharist.

Yes, he does. And it’s the source and summit of our faith and the most valuable thing in the created universe. But he also gave us each other. And too many of us try to do it alone. And too many of us try to white knuckle it through our lives. And we’re grabbing our rosary till the beads pop off thinking if we just hold on, then we can do it ourselves.

And we can’t. We need one another because that outside of the Eucharist is where we find Christ. Yeah. In one another. Yeah. And it’s actually because of the Eucharist. Amen. That’s why we find Christ in one another. Yeah. Let me just think about that. So like we, when we receive communion, there is this movement of love.

And this first movement is this movement upward towards the Lord and his descending to us, his coming to us. But as soon as that movement happens, we’re immediately invited and even like the impulse of love itself is to begin to look around and to think about this. Like when you fall in love with somebody, you begin to love the things they love, right?

And all of a sudden you begin to notice the things that they like, their favorite color, their flower, it’s like so you begin to love the things that the one whom you love loves. And then when all of a sudden we realize that Lord, this tremendous love that you have for me, you have it for everyone.

And I was just last night, like in the stadium, just like looking around and realizing first he was looking to the Lord And I remember years ago, like the first moment, the first time when I moved from this place where my prayer life was like, I said a lot of awesome prayers and I was like, I was like, I had my, I called it my Catholic, merit badge sash, so I’m like talking about all this stuff in, that I look at my life.

But there was this moment when I remember being in the chapel and it was just a small chapel next to our college where I went to school at back in Augusta, Georgia for undergrad. And I just remember looking up and this word came and the word was just you. I think it was the first time that I had ever said that to God, you, and you only say you to someone that you’re in relationship with.

And it turns out that the only thing God really wants with us is relationship. And I was looking at him last night, in that beautiful moment of adoration over in Lucas oil. And just that word just kept coming back again and again, like you, but then I started looking around every single person and that same word was there like you, because that God that we adore in the Eucharist.

He’s chosen us to become living tabernacles. And that’s why daily mass, right? As I receive him, if I receive him in faith and I can be a hot mess. And guess what? That don’t bother him. He actually prefers those. Sometimes totally. I think so. Lots of room to work. Absolutely. A savior. If I don’t need saving, then I don’t need a savior.

He was like, if I got it all together, then Jesus is totally superfluous. I said that I think it was at your parish and we did that parish mission. And I think the priest jumped in his seat and I basically told everybody at mass, I was like, Hey, listen, if you’re here at church. And you don’t actually need redemption and salvation and you don’t need Jesus Christ, then the Catholic Church has nothing to offer you.

You should go home. Yeah, it was a good opening line because it’s true because what we’re preaching is salvation. If I don’t have anything that I need saving from, then I don’t need a savior, which means that there’s no good news that I have for you if I’m preaching salvation. Yep. But when he does come, our savior comes, he enters into us.

There is a transformation that he is working silently. Hidden inside of us, and I’ve seen it again and again, all of a sudden the wife who can look at her husband who cheated on her and forgive, I’ve seen it, the young man who struggled with doubts and fears about his unworthiness because of the constant battle with purity and sexual temptation, falling into pornography and masturbation and you name it because of this love, hope arises in their heart and strength to do what they couldn’t do before.

So this is the radical transformation. It’s his life enters into my life and not because I’ve got it together and I’m perfect, but the absolute opposite. I am poor. Thank you, Jesus. I’m a sinner. Praise God. I don’t have it all together. Glory to God in the highest because he has come to show us who he is.

Paul says the power of God, the love of God is most clearly seen in our weakness. And so that’s what he’s wanting. And I’m like, sweet. If you want weakness, I got it. And there’s something that I think we need to address too, because as we talk about this it’s so fearful because people do feel I’m not worthy.

I’m not this, I’m not that. That’s one thing. But then what do I have to give up? Yeah, that’s the other piece. What is this going to cost me, right? What about these friends that i’ve known all my life and I don’t want to lose them But if I become the jesus freak or the jesus guy Then they’re going to walk away and I experienced that in my own life, I had a year between when I got out of jail and When we started the men’s group and in my parish and nobody knew You know, I hadn’t told anybody like my family and my wife and kids because I was afraid if I told anybody like they’d kick us out of the school and kick us out of the parish like You All those things, Angela being embarrassed and all those kind of things.

And I had a lot of guys I was running with that first year and then I started inviting the priest over and then I started praying before meals and then I started inviting the guys to the group and all of a sudden they quit coming around. Some of them, I have a little bass boat and sometimes that’s the only time I ever hear from.

And so I tell people all the time yeah, you’re going to lose things, but why do we spend so much time counting the cost? Instead of looking towards the reward, right? Because it’s, I’m telling you what, all the things that I’ve lost in my life. And I told those friends, I love you. I get it. I don’t, you’re not in the place to receive these things, but I love you, right?

You’re always welcome here. Those things. But the thing is, we get so afraid about what we’re going to lose, but there’s no one who knows more than what you’re supposed to be than the one who loved you into existence. The one that said one day, and this is the thing that I think escapes all of our minds is that one day, like however many millennia ago, God’s there needs to be at that time, a Larry, or a John or a Jill or a Jane, or I’m saying a lot of J’s or a Pat or whatever and Amy. And then in his timeline and it’s perfect time. You came into existence. God loved you into existence. He wanted you to live right here, right now. And how many of us don’t spend any time pondering that, right?

That there’s a purpose for my life. There’s a God who loves me that declares that I need to live now. And the other thing that I will say to people when they think of all okay, I want to be a better Christian, but let me go ahead and disqualify myself for all the things I’ve done wrong.

There’s no one who knows more about who you’re supposed to be than the one that loves you into existence. And God knew everything you were going to do wrong in your entire life. And he still chose to make you. Yeah. So what does that say about what God thinks? He doesn’t care about what you’ve done. He cares about what you have the potential to do.

And if we want real change in this country, in this world, in our own hearts, in this church, then we have to remember to let ourselves off the hook too, because God knew the things we’re going to do. Now you have to repent, right? That’s the thing. If you don’t repent, then you’re separated forever from him for, possibly forever.

So he knows that as long as we repent, it doesn’t matter what we’ve done. He brought us into this world. with gifts, with talents and with his body, blood, soul and divinity. Those things become as perfect as they possibly could in us and become his tools to go and continue to create his kingdom. But we have to quit being afraid of what we’re gonna lose, of what it’s gonna cost us because the Jesus we serve didn’t count the cost.

He didn’t count the cost. He sat there in that garden, scared to death, I’m sure, fully God and fully man. And at the end of the day, in that pivotal moment of history, because salvation was won there in that garden, right? When he said, not your will, but mine, he knew the cost and he walked boldly through it.

And he watched everybody leave him, every friend he had in his life. And he didn’t count the cost. He went and he took on all of that. Not so that we can be mediocre Catholics. Yeah. Not so that we can keep me and Jesus in our, in, in here in our personal little party of two, but to go out into the world and to boldly live as Catholics.

Like I, I used to be so afraid of death, just dying randomly leaving my wife and leaving my kids or even before that leaving my own selfish desires in the life I created for myself. If something were happening to me tomorrow. So God willing, let me go to confession and receive the Lord in the Eucharist.

I got you covered, bro. Thank you. Can I hang out with you at least till Sunday? And this, but I’m going to go see the one that I love more than anything. And that’s the end game is imperfect as I am. As much as I, I fear as much as I, I double back down against that statement I just said, he still waits for me.

And he’s there to meet me and pick me up off the ground and to say, John, I know, I knew about this 350, 000 years ago or whatever it was, but I’m here and I don’t think less of you. I don’t love you any less. I just want you to look at me again, remember me and do the things that I’ve asked you to do.

And that’s for each and every one of us. We have another quote here from Tolkien. I know you’re a big Tolkien guy too. Oh yeah. And he said this, he said, out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated. I put before you the one great thing to love on the earth, the blessed sacrament. There you will find romance, glory, honor, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves upon the earth.

And that’s it, man. We’re looking for so many other places. It’s that old song, looking for love in all the wrong places, right? And that’s what we keep going back. But the goal is to be like that woman at the well, when we go back and one time there’s Jesus there and our lives change and then we go tell everybody that’s what it means to have a life that is radically transformed.

And that’s my hope for all of us, you, me, everybody in this room that we continue because conversion is not a one time experience. No, it’s the rest of our lives. And we have to come to grips with that because it’s a work for the rest of our lives until we draw our last breath. And I think also part of the reason why conversion is the work of our entire life is because it is something in which conversion is becoming what?

Becoming divine. Now don’t get me wrong There’s an actual understanding, and Peter in his letter says that we’re made participators in the divine nature. And so what is it? It’s that there is a work that God wants to do in each of us, in which each of us is called to become another Christ. And this is where the Eucharist becomes this like understanding.

It’s it’s like you think about it, if like you, you have the seed of life, the word of life sewn into us at baptism, you have this sort of this light that comes down upon it, this radiance of the sun, the spirit, and then this water that’s poured forth and it grows, but it grows over time.

And the way that the Lord continues to just pour into us, it’s like divine fertilizer, come on, miracle grow. Is this way is the gift of himself again and again in the Eucharist. Because if I, a finite being have been made to participate in the infinite glory and beauty of God, that it means no matter where I have arrived on that journey, there is always more.

Yeah. Always. And this is like the joy, right? And this is the call. This is the radical. So again, when we talked about radical transformation, I love this title. What does it come from? Radics root to the root of my being to the very heart of myself, where Jesus, and this is like a beautiful thing to even just think about and ponders like, Lord, where has my heart not been touched by your love?

Where in my life do I believe that your love can’t touch, can’t make new, can’t go there. Where do I not want you to go? Where do I not want to be seen? And these are the places that the Lord wants to come and he comes again and again in the Eucharist. And so the word transformed and you talked about like this, like before anything is existing, God’s like desire and plan for our lives.

And even knowing all these mistakes and these stupid like foot and mouth moments and these really things that were like, wish that never happened. All of that, but it tells us in Ephesians and I love this chapter one of Ephesians three to ten, there’s a beautiful canticle and it starts off and it’s saying before the foundation of the world, I chose you in Christ holiness

before the foundation of the world. Just think about this. That the eternal plan of the father for each of us is holiness. And what is holiness? It is the wholeness of our being that has been transformed by being filled with the divine life of God. And that is the life that comes to us again and again in the Eucharist.

But one knows that life and that love will never remain alone, but always becomes this like force of movement out. You mentioned the woman at the well. And what happens? She comes, she meets the one who is the living water. And what does she do? She stays there at the will and hangs out for the rest of her life.

Absolutely not. She goes running back into town. She’s Hey, guess who I met? Check them out. You got to see this guy. He told me everything about me that I ever did. And this is what happens when you meet the Lord. And he wants to be met and he wants to reveal himself. And like John, you and I, just the way that God has worked, there’s been some radical sort of like really like moment, like St.

Paul breakthrough things that have happened. It doesn’t always happen that way. I met some people. I met this beautiful 90 year old woman somewhere near a cornfield in Indiana. I know that doesn’t tell you where it was at because there’s so many cornfields, but She’s there coming out of the church.

We’re getting ready to begin this procession for it’s eight miles or something like that. And she’s out here, she’s got her cane, she’s like rocking it, like hopping along. And I was like, how are you doing? And, she’s, doing some, I’m so happy to be here.

And I was like, yeah, we’re so grateful to have you. She’s yeah, I’m 90 years old. I figured if I didn’t come this time, I wasn’t ever going to be able to come in my lifetime. And so she’s just out there she’s like going for it. You want to talk about like radical transformation?

Like she’s hungry to be with Jesus all the way to the end. And then the beauty too, of this Eucharistic pilgrimage, it kind of ties in with this idea of going forth and sharing this joy of relationship and love with Jesus Christ. Is it one thing I saw and I could see it in the faces of the people is that we have been so cornered and isolated and siloed by the culture, by the scandals in the church, by the divisions that exist in society to retreat.

We have been retreating from the public sphere. We’ve been retreating from the world. We’ve been hiding behind doors like those apostles in a locked room after the death of Christ. And this revival and this time in which we’ve been carrying Jesus in the streets of this country was a breaking out, a Pentecost moment.

And in fact, Jesus, whenever he comes to us in the Eucharist, Pope Benedict talks about this, he says, it’s like a mini Pentecost. That the Holy Spirit is given again to us, but the spirit is given in order to be shared. The love of God comes for us to share it. So Eucharist coming, I could see it in the faces of people where they were on the street in their neighborhood, on the street, in their town, standing publicly with the Lord.

With the Lord. And here he is being raised up. Jesus being raised up for everyone to see. And here we are singing. Whereas one time we’re like walking into again, I don’t know where Indiana never been here before. Apologies. It was such a blur. We went to like dozens and dozens of towns, but Bishop Rhodes were over in Fort Wayne diocese, at least I know he’s there.

He’s walking and we’re walking into town towards this parish. I think it was sacred heart and just singing we love you. We love you. We love you. God. And people just coming out and seeing just hundreds of people in the middle of whatever the Tuesday afternoon, walking through their town, holding up Jesus in the Eucharist and the people of God just singing together.

We love you. We love you. We love you. God, the world needs that witness. And I said this to some people I was preaching to in a mass earlier in the week here. We’re staying in an Airbnb. That’s like on the other side of the highways. And when we went there, it was awesome. So the friars are like, where are we going to stay?

So we all pile into this three bedroom Airbnb. There’s 10 of us there. It’s great. It’s like a home version of a clown car. It’s really hilarious. There’s a brother like laying on a mat next to the coffee pot. Step up, but it’s you walk across that. Divide of the, of this highway in the neighborhood changes completely.

I know it’s a little bit rough downtown Indy, but it just gets super poor and just run down and homeless everywhere. And just a really just it’s just rough part of town. And I was just thinking, you know what? Like this Eucharistic revival is dead in the water. If it stays on this side of the highway, we got to go out.

And I think the going out with the pilgrimage was like this, like stirring the heart of the bride. It’s we have something to share. Yeah. We have someone to share and the world needs him. But guess what? God needs. You needs us to be bold enough to allow the power of the spirit to fill us and to go forth and proclaim Jesus is Lord.

And he’s in our midst and not generically and not just spiritually, but truly, really present in the Eucharist. And so if people can meet him, then guess what? Revival is happening and revival is coming. Because there’s nowhere that Jesus goes where people are unchanged. Cause that’s just who he is, right?

And I don’t want to be unchanged any day of my life, which is why I keep coming back every day to mass. Like you’re talking about. And I’d say that’s the best recipe. You want deeper conversion, go to mass as often as you can receive the Eucharist as often as you can get to confession as often as you can, because every time we encounter that love of Jesus, I’m transformed, I’m healed, I’m made free, and I become just a little bit more like him.

And how beautiful would it be if people looked upon your face, saw the face of God, and that only comes because we’ve received him. Yeah. That’s what St. Paul’s talking about when he says, I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Amen. I’ve died to self. I just, everything he says there, like 2 Corinthians 5, 17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he’s a new creation.

The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. And that’s what I want to ask people is can you really say in your life that the old person has died? That the person you were before has died. Now that takes time. That’s a continual dying to self, right? We have that initial dying of choosing Christ over ourselves.

And then he invites us to die a little more each day to self. But that’s a question we should all ask ourselves because we can go to church. We can check all the boxes. We can do everything. You can be the most Catholic decorated person in the world. But if you really died to yourself and if you started living for Christ, that’s what he says in Galatians two 20, I’ve been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I just, there’s an image I have as I’m saying this, and I have three little kids. I guess they’re not that little anymore. Jacob’s 15. I apologize for my voice.

I’ve been talking to a lot of people over the last couple of days. The girls are 11, and the girls have learned, and father’s been over at our house a bunch. He said mass in our house. He’s, There’s been like 10 friars in my house at one time sleeping on various appliances or whatever you said earlier but I was in there one day in our den, which, you know and the girls had gotten obsessed with dominoes, at 11, which, I didn’t think would happen.

I thought that would be a younger thing. And they’ve got them lined up everywhere. And they’re about to push them over and they’re like, Dad, watch this. Watch them all fall down. And so I walked over and I walked about halfway down and this was just a God moment. It wasn’t me being like, watch what I’m about to do.

It was just the Lord moved me and I picked the domino up and before Allison was about to push them and she goes, what has stopped? Wait, if you take that out, they all won’t fall down. And I said, yeah, that’s you. That’s you. That’s you. That’s you. That’s you. And honey, your mother and I carry you to church and Caitlin, we carry you to church and we’re trying to make our faith yours, but then the day it’s got to become yours.

Because if you’re this domino and we take you out, if you choose not to boldly proclaim Christ with your life, how many of these dominoes, the people you will meet in your life will never fall. How many of them will never be affected because you choose something else? To choose something else and that doesn’t mean being a good person in your career or whatever else You’re pursuing in your life.

You can do both Because christ wants to envelop all of our life Not just the part where we’re in those four walls that we call a parish but every aspect of our life And so I held that up and I tell them all the time when they’re playing with them Make sure you’re in there. So the rest of them fall down And it’s something it’s a message I think for each and every one of us here As we come here and as we, I encourage you all to keep going to whatever you can go to, whatever’s in your schedule, whatever you have time for.

What else? You drove all the way up here. What else do you have time to do? Go to everything that you possibly can. Fall in front of the Lord. Like last night I was coming back from a second dinner that someone asked me to go to and father had told me I didn’t eat. I’m watching my figure, but but I did have a beer and that was a good beer, but father had told me I’m going to be doing adoration.

I’m going to be leading praise and worship. And it was 11 o’clock in my hotels, like a mile and a half, two miles, I don’t know where we are, but one way away from here and I was walking by church and I was like, man, father’s in there. But Jesus is in there and I’m tired. I talked to probably, I don’t know, four people that listened to my podcast yesterday at the booth and I was worn out, man, honestly.

And, but I went in that church and I sat in that pew and I listened to my, my, my good friend just belt out his gifts to the Lord. And I got home at 1230 and I was tired, but I wouldn’t have rather been anywhere else. And the Lord, that’s all he wants. Like I just so many times, like this is one last thing I’ll say.

And then father, we can close out here and just, but sometimes like I can feel like I’m a bother to God, right? God’s got plenty of other people to listen to or he’s doing, but then like my son Jacob will come to me and we were shooting fireworks on the 4th of July and I let him shoot some.

And he’s dad, can I shoot some? And there were some of these big things like blow your face off kind of stuff. Let’s go. And so I was like, all right, your mom’s across the road. It’s dark. She won’t know what you all right. Like here. And so I just don’t lose any appendages or anything . I don’t have any super glue with me.

So like I let him do it. And what I thought was just a simple gesture. He came up and he bear hugged me. I was a 15-year-old boy, like he’s beyond dad being cool, right? . And he hugged me while I was might and put his head in my chest and said, I’m so glad that we’re doing this together.

I’m so glad that it’s just me and you. And I thought about that in the inverse. Like we may go to adoration or we may be in front of walking down the hall and one of you wonderful priest is processing with our Lord. And in that moment are we seeing a monstrance in a wafer or are we seeing the God of the universe saying, I’m glad it’s just you and me, right?

Like I’m glad it’s just you and me. That’s what I want. That’s what I want. Is for this always in our life and your good times and your bad times and your mediocre times and your isolation and your community. It’s always me. That’s my hope for each and every one of us, man. And I just, as we leave you here somebody thought we were the joke guys that are coming next.

So sorry to ruin that whole thing. I accomplished crying three or four times, which I figured would happen being in your presence and when these people, but folks, we just, we’re inviting you to Again, not to come to this conference just to say I went to something, not to hang this well, mine’s over there, but the badge next to any other Catholic things you’ve been to.

But Lord, like in everything I do, in every talk I listened to, in every exhibit booth I visit, in every conversation I happen upon, what do you want from me? What are you asking of me? And when he tells you, don’t be afraid. to pursue it. Because he will give you everything you need. You have a guy that used to steal and rob and sell drugs.

You have a guy that, that was a terrible human being to his wife and to his kids and to generally everybody in his life that didn’t have a dollar sign on their face for me. But you have two men that sit before you that are completely different, not perfect, not sinless. We got our problems. Trust me, but completely different.

And I’m reminded that moment in The Chosen, which is a great show in the first season when Mary Magdalene has been transformed and Nicodemus is finding her. And he says how long after the transformation did you after my visit? Were you transformed? And she goes, Oh, it wasn’t you. And he goes, What was it?

Sanhedrin? Did someone else come? And she goes, No. And he goes if you saw this man, would you know him if you saw him again? And she says, all I can tell you is this. She says, I was one way and now I’m completely different. And the only thing that happened in between was him. So I will know him for the rest of my life.

That’s my prayer for all of us. So I pray for you, brother, and your priesthood as you continue to serve the Lord. I thank you for being here. I want you to have the final word folks, if you haven’t heard of the Franciscan Friars of Renewal, please check them out. They have a booth over next to all the other people that look like priests in the vocation section or sisters.

What a gift this man is in my life. What a gift he is to the church. What a gift all of you have been to take your time to spend time with us. We love you and Father Malachi, take us home. Thank you, bro. That’s the only thing. The only thing that brings revival

is him.

Dare to open your heart to the heart of Jesus. Dare to allow him to meet you where you are now. And I can promise you, without a shadow of a doubt, you will not be the same because of who he is and who you are to him. That’s revival. Our hearts meeting the heart of Jesus. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Thank you all for being here. God bless you.