76: A little bit of a hunger or thirst for that knowledge

Episode 76 Rebecca shares how she has claimed for herself a relationship with God. Living by the guidance of Luke 7:7 Ask, search, knock, has led her into a wealth of rich experiences and a 'passion for' her faith. For example, she describes her work as a volunteer at Radio Maria England where she helps to 'let people know what is happening in the Church.'

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Radio Maria England

Radio Maria in the world

Canon Marcus Holden from the Archdiocese of Southwark's YouTube channel

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Transcript

You're listening to All Kinds of Catholic with me, Theresa Alessandro. My conversations with different Catholics will give you glimpses into some of ways we're living our faith today. Pope Francis used the image of a caravan for our travelling together on a sometimes chaotic journey.  And Pope Leo, quoting St Augustine, reminds us, Let us live well and the times will be good. We are the times. I hope you'll feel encouraged and affirmed and maybe challenged now and then.  I am too in these conversations. And if you're enjoying them, it helps if you rate and review on the platform where you're listening. Thank you.

I really appreciated that because I was learning myself. Also learning how to pass this on, how to do it properly - you know, this is what the church teaches. 

Listeners just before we get into this week’s conversation, I just want to give you another snippet of information about how we’re going to be building a community around this podcast. And I hope you’ll want to be a closer part of it. I’ve now booked a venue for our in person event next year and it’ll be on Saturday 21st March, so maybe just put that in your diary with a little question mark beside it. In the next couple of weeks there’ll be an opportunity to find out more about the event and register if you’d like to come along. There’ll also be an opportunity to sign up to receive a newsletter about the podcast giving you a bit of information about episodes that are coming up and episodes that are live now. There’ll be a way for us to talk to each other more than we can at the moment. So please keep listening so that you can find out more about those things. But let’s get into today’s conversation.

Listeners, thanks for joining today. I'm joined by Rebecca today. We're going to talk about Rebecca's faith journey. Radio Maria will come into that for people that are familiar with Radio Maria and for people who aren't. Let's find out a bit more then. Welcome Rebecca. 

Thank you, Theresa. 

So I thought - Rebecca, I can tell straight away that you're from Ireland. Some listeners may be able to pinpoint more closely than that even. Tell us a bit about when God was first important in your life. Was it from childhood or was it something that happened later?

You're absolutely right, I am Irish and from the East Coast. I had the fortune to grow up in a Catholic family. Both of my parents were Catholic. We went to Mass every Sunday. We said grace before meals. My mother had grown up in a family where the rosary was said every evening, so she carried on that tradition with us. We prayed our guardian angel prayer. And going to school in Ireland, Catholicism was part of the curriculum. God was always present, I think. I think my mum, through her own faith, she always had - there was a book of the lives of the saints and I remember before I could even read, I could remember looking at the pictures. Particularly I remember the pictures of St. Therese of Lisieux, very beautiful colour pictures. They were really nice. And I also remember we even had a colouring book that was a Bible. And again, it was before I could read, so the colouring part was interesting. But the words were beyond me at that age. I was aware that God existed. I think He was just always in the picture somehow. And then I think over time it was my relationship with God that needed to be claimed for myself, particularly as a teenager. I think when questions arise in the face of everything, absolutely everything, you're questioning everything. It's a natural time of life to be doing that. I certainly struggled. And even when life is getting difficult, when you're a teenager and you're facing difficulties, I did have my doubts about God and even the real presence. I didn't have an understanding of that. So for a time I think I was trying to tackle things by myself and not realising how to live out this relationship with God. It was more like, I'll carry on by myself.  How God fitted into my life was very unclear to me at that age as a teenager.  I met different people along the way, I suppose, who  practised their faith in their own ways. So some people reached for intellectual means, so to books that would argue out the ideas and why we should believe in God and how it was represented in different ways, incorrect ways, in society. Sometimes that language that was used was very academic. I remember needing to reach for a dictionary to work my way through some of these books I was reading. There was also that idea of, so people are arguing for this, but how are they actually living it out? There's always that level of hypocrisy by some people and saving it for a Sunday sort of thing and forget the rest of the week. 

I think teenagers have a really good hypocrisy radar, don't they? 

Yes, it's like it's always off. It's really sensitive. Like the metal detector turned right up at the airport. I think an important place for me was getting the opportunity to go to Medjugorje. First time I went was in 2005 through a friend of my sister's. I knew that there had been - Our Lady had appeared there. So I had this vague idea that it was something like perhaps Lourdes or Knock. So I went out there, and the usual thing is for about a week. It's a pilgrimage in a way because you're stepping away from your daily life. You get to pray; you don't have to worry about meals. Mass is available every day in your own language and in other languages. There's a prayer programme in the evenings at the back of the church, which has benches that can seat thousands of people. You're guided through Adoration, a little bit music, a little bit of reflection, venerating the Cross on Fridays. The rosary is prayed -and they pray the rosary before Mass, so you're being prepared for Mass, not just dashing in and struggling for a parking spot or anything like that. It's very much space and time opens up for you to give that to God. It gives you an opportunity to speak to God, to chat to God in your own words, in prayer. That development of the relationship with Christ, I think, was a key point in my relationship with God. And I remember towards the end of the week, just going into St. James Church, just before the tabernacle, just saying, You know what, God, I'd like to understand better Eucharist. It was as simple as that, just a question.

Well, you knew what you didn't know. 

Yeah. And sometimes, you know, we don't even know that much. You know, we have to get to that point too, to be able to ask that question. So I went home and then we had a new priest in our parish. I was asked to be part of the team to take Communion to  people in care homes. We were fortunate enough to be trained over several weeks for that. We got some really solid training. I really appreciated that because I was learning myself. Also learning how to pass this on, how to do it properly - you know, this is what the church teaches. I didn't have this teaching before, so I really appreciated it. I think I was open to it as well. And there's a little bit of a hunger or thirst, you could say, for that knowledge too.

What I think is really interesting about that, Rebecca, lots of people in recent episodes have spoken about Medjugorje. It's come up a lot. It's been important to lots of guests. Listeners will know. I think you've kind of demonstrated there how we say, don't we? that devotion to Mary; Mary points us to her Son. And that you went there to Medjugorje and actually your last thoughts after that week were, I need to know more about the Eucharist. You were pointed to Jesus. That's remarkable, isn't it? I just wanted to notice that before you go on. 

That is a good point because I think we can talk about Marian apparitions, but she's very much, she's always pointing to Jesus, to Mass, read the Bible, read his word. Constantly encouraging people to develop their relationship with Christ. Yeah, definitely. So from that point onwards, I was involved more so with Mass readings, ended up being on the parish advisory council. I never looked for any of this. I was always asked, would you come along to this meeting? Would you do this?

That's how they get you, Rebecca.

As well as that, it was a time when I would have been one of the youngest in the congregation too. So in many ways it was a solo journey. The St. Beuno's outreach, which are based in St. Beuno's in North Wales, they approached our parish priest and offered weeks of guided prayer.  And I signed up for that. So this is how I got into Ignatian prayer, learned more about retreats and after trying that went on a silent retreat for the first time. And that was again, a really great learning experience. I learned more about how to pray, how all these different possibilities of prayer. Also going to a part of the country that I didn't know, so you're stepping out again of your daily routine, going on retreat and having the guidance of a spiritual director during your retreat. So that was a new experience, very fruitful personally.

So for people who don't know about a silent retreat, Rebecca, just tell us a little bit about that - what that looks like and how that helped you. 

So a silent retreat is where you will go to a retreat centre. Again, your meals are provided. In this tradition, it's the Ignatian tradition, so you're given passages of scripture. You have a chat with your director first. They'll just want to know where you are roughly in your faith life and life itself, you know, have you just come out of a busy work time or  if you're dealing with perhaps grief or something like that. You will be given passages of scripture to reflect on, to read on. Short ones, could be Psalms, could be more active passages from the Gospel. You'll be advised how to pray with them. And you do that and then you meet the next day and you see how you get on.  Mass is on every day. Then you're also advised to go for walks.  So if you're near the beach, you can walk along the beach or if you're in the mountains, you may walk through the hills. It's very much again, a space for you and God. In some ways it's that thin space. It's where you can reach out to God, God can reach into your life. And it is that thing where you have to ask for that, because we have free will. So we're free to do like the Prodigal Son, head off to your own thing and we're free to come back. 

And be welcomed. 

Yeah, and be welcomed. Exactly. Yes, and we need to learn that we will be welcomed as well.  

Let's just come up to the present then, because I met you when we did some of the National Pilgrimage together, a little tiny bit that I was doing when I was making that episode. 

That's right. 

And you volunteer for Radio Maria. Tell us a little bit about how you came to do that and explain what Radio Maria is for people who might not know. 

Perhaps I'll start with the Radio Maria side of things. So I was, again, I went to Medjugorje last year. When I came back I wondered if we had a Catholic radio station in the UK, so I Googled it and Radio Maria England came up. It was actually about this time last year in October when I was listening and they were having their fundraiser called the Mariathon. It happens every October because they rely completely on donations to run the station. They also rely on lot of volunteers. They have a handful of aid staff and many, many, many volunteers who might be in front of the microphone. They might be doing work behind the scenes. I was listening over the course of the week and heard them say, you know, we can always do with volunteers, go to our website. I went to Radio Maria England and had a look at the page for volunteers, filled out the form, said, Okay, this is something I can do, I don't know if you need that  - and sent that in. They were in touch a while later and I was invited to join the news team. So I started doing the news one day a week then that moved up to two days a week. That's what I've been doing. 

That's wonderful service, isn't it? I know Radio Maria a little bit. Some listeners might know that I did speak on that when I was working with Pact, the prison charity. I think it's wonderful, the work that Radio Maria does, the service for Catholic people. I'll put a link to it in the episode notes for people who haven't yet found it.  So you volunteer with the news team. What kind of things do you do then? Do you speak on the radio? 

Because I was living away from stations, the news team tends to gather their stories, write their script, record it, edit it, add any audio in, do any fine tuning and then send that in to the station and that's broadcast from there. It's great to be working with others whose faith is so important to them. It lends itself to having a different working relationship. We're volunteers. We're doing this because we want to and because we have a passion for our faith. And we want people to hear what's going on in the Church that they won't hear in mainstream media at all. So people can often be misguided in assuming, They're doing nothing. Nothing's happening. This is a way via Radio Maria England to let people know this is what's happening in the Church. And also the Vatican World News and the Vatican News is on as well. So that lets them know what's happening beyond the shores. And also you start to see the picture of how the Church in this country is collaborating with the Vatican on a global scale. We also hear about the latest happenings with Pact.  It's amazing. There are so many organisations and charities, things like Aid to the Church in Need, and people can become more aware of how the Church is actually having an impact in these countries very far away, war-torn countries. It just opens up what is happening for Catholics in the world, how people can live out their faith in these very real, tangible ways and make a difference. When we're called to feed people, look after the poor, and people might think, How on earth can I do this? And we can bring that information by the news, via different programmes, where charities are invited on and people are invited on to speak about the work that's happening and that they're involved in too. 

What comes across, like you said there, people might think nothing much is happening in the Church, but actually you get in habit of listening to Radio Maria, there's loads happening and the church sounds very alive and vibrant and modern and connected to real life. It's really encouraging for people who aren't used to listening, give it a go. 

Yeah, I think so, definitely. I was so enthused. I was, you know, writing down the names of books that were recommended and websites and Oh, you know, when I first started listening, was like, Wow, I had never heard of this. Oh my gosh, that sounds so interesting. And you can listen back to programs as well. You know, if you only catch part of a program, some of the programs are put on podcasts as well. So go and check out the podcast, Radio Maria England too, to catch up on things you may have missed. 

Wonderful stuff. That's a great service that you're involved in. It's wonderful to hear about. Now, what are the, you mentioned retreats, I'm guessing they're still important to you. What are the things that nurture your faith today?

One of the most recent things that I took part in was the Pilgrimage of Hope, where we met on the Norwich Eastern Way.  I heard about it, partly through people I know through Radio Maria England, partly through the Pilgrim Way's website, through my work reporting on things. I thought this was fantastic. Different ‘ways’ reaching across the country to bless the country with the cross and the Gospels. Each route named after one of the evangelists. I really want to get involved in this. I want to walk some of these ways. I joined for the first and second stage from Norwich Cathedral. So I did know some people, some people I had no idea. Again, it's an amazing time to gather together with others who share their faith in different levels and experiences. There's a chance to chat with others and there's an amazing ability for people on a pilgrimage to open up very quickly. Quite a unique experience to go on pilgrimage. Some people think, Well, what's the difference between a walk and a pilgrimage?  Well, you are walking, but you're praying, you're speaking to others. And we went through some historic sites like Cawston, a medieval church, and we learned a little bit about the history too. A stunning angel roof - there's wood carvings in the roof. And also a little bit about the history of how a screen that was painted in medieval times, the paint is still from there, it's been cleaned but at the time of the Reformation that screen was covered over and made to look like a wall and that's the only reason it still remains today. It's wonderful to visit these places and learn about these things and to share faith and the chats that you have along the way when you're walking. I’d done some of the Camino as a student. I wasn't at any sort of depth in my relationship with Christ as I am today, so there's a different aspect to that. It was also wonderful the second day that we were in Walsingham as a group together. We were able to have Mass in the Slipper Chapel, this lovely little chapel in Walsingham. You know, and praying the rosary on the last mile to the chapel as well.  The priest that was with us, Fr Peter, encouraging people to have intentions as we prayed the rosary, to ask for the graces that we need for whatever God wants to give us. And it was lovely to have that little bit of direction as well as we prayed; this group just in the quietness of the prayer. And people were reflecting, walking down the quiet pathway and the countryside left and right and it's very prayerful, very reflective. And then we had Mass together.  And it was a very beautiful time. It was really, really wonderful. It really touched me. I was very thankful that I was able to go and join those two stages. 

But I do think there's something wonderful about praying together outdoors, because it's something we don't necessarily do that often. You know, we kind of wait till we're in the church or in the home or maybe in the workplace if you work somewhere where faith is important to the community. But yeah, outdoors, I suppose on my own, I might pray while I'm walking along outdoors quite often. But a group of people don't necessarily do that, do they? There's something really lovely about connecting with the presence of God outside in the world God made, to say your prayers. 

Yes, it's true. Somehow, God speaks to us through events in our life, through nature, through people when you’re praying and you are looking out and, yes, you can see - metaphorically, God is speaking to you through things that you see. It’s wonderful and you're right, I agree with you. We don't as groups go out and pray that often at all. I'm trying to think when have I ever done that? No, I'll be more likely to be walking by myself if I'm praying the rosary. Some of us went on the feast day of the Rosary. Again this was through Radio Mary England. We went on a Rosary walk from St James Spanish Place through Regents Park to St Dominic's the Rosary Shrine in North London there. We prayed four different mysteries of the rosary, the Joyful and so on. It was quite a different way of walking through London, praying together, seeing people's reactions as well. I remember hearing, now we passed a footpath and two kids were getting into the car with their mum - one of the kids says, What are they doing?  And their mum was able to say, Oh they’re praying. It was interesting, you know, that the child asks the parent, because clearly had no understanding of what was going on. Thankfully the mother was able to say, well they're praying. 

That's good. Well done that mother. And maybe she'll go away and think, Hang on a minute, my child didn't even recognise -  maybe I need to do something.  

Exactly. Yeah. I'm fortunate enough, as I said, my mum grew up with the rosary being said in her household every day. So that was her normal. But there are plenty of households where it's not normal or it's considered almost, Oh no, we don't do that anymore. No one prays the rosary anymore because that's been their personal experience. And yet, if they go on retreat or if they go to one of the many Marian shrines, it's part of it. Christ is right in there in the middle of the Hail Mary. Our Lady's always pointing to Christ. 

Actually, through guests on the podcast, I can say with certainty that many Catholics still pray the rosary. It is not a thing of the past at all. It's very much something that's really important to Catholics in the 21st century, from all kinds of backgrounds. I think that's the wonderful thing about it. It also brings Catholics together. When we're together, we can pray the rosary and all know what to do.  

It gives such graces. When life can be so busy and people can suffer with a great deal of anxiety or stress, it is also a way to be supported in life. It is amazing how many people tend to just feel calmer after praying -  and many effects that we wouldn't be aware of. They're present. They’re there. I think as a kid, I found it's just words and just get through it. 

It took too long.  

Exactly, yeah. Learning more about it, practise, like anything, you develop a greater appreciation for it or any other form of prayer really too.

Aside from the Rosary, are there other prayers that are meaningful to you, Rebecca, that you might return to? 

I was taught to pray with the Bible, pray with Bible verses, the Ignatian style of prayer.  I learned how to lead others in doing that. The different ways of Lectio Divina, that divine reading, that just reading the passage over and over again, just a few times and seeing which line or maybe just even one word might just pop out to you, might be meaningful to you. Then also contemplative imagination; imagining yourself in a scene in the Bible. You might be one of the characters that you read about, or you might add yourself in and just be a bystander. It's really quite remarkable what happens during those prayer times. How God can speak to you. Again, it's another form of a thin place, the Bible, scriptures. And when we make space for God, ask Him to enter in and present our questions to Him, how He will respond to us. Depending where you're at, different things can be useful. Sometimes if you're just so distracted by what life is throwing at you, it can be enough just to repeat the name of Jesus prayerfully, just that point of making contact with God. Just acknowledging his action in your life. But at the same time, you pray as you can, not as you can't. If you don't have time to pray the rosary, you can pray something, say the name of Jesus or a Glory Be. Quality over quantity, definitely. 

And along the way, praying with the Bible, are there readings that you come back to that are favourites for you? 

Yes, so Matthew 7: 7, Ask, search, knock. So it's, Ask and it will be given to you. Search and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened for you. And then line 8 goes on to say, For everyone who asks, receives, and everyone who searches, finds. And for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.  It reminds me, Don't try and do it alone.  Ask. Ask God. Ask people around you. It's like if you're struggling to pray, ask your priest, ask someone you know who prays. And search. If you get rebuffed or if you don't get a very polite answer, well don't stop there, ask somebody else and then knock. So it is that idea of, it's down to me to participate in the Mass, for example, it's down to me to want to enter into relationship with God. If I want to enter into any relationship, friendship, whatever it is, you can only do that by spending time with a person. So the same for God. We do have to ask him to get involved. And then different psalms can be helpful depending where you're at.  And sometimes just going to Mass. I find the words of the psalm or the gospel or the prayer and also the homily that the priest is giving is also really helpful. I think I've appreciated reading the Bible more so. Again, it was not a tradition for us to read the Bible, to reflect on scripture. That's something I learned about later in life through retreats and doing prayer guiding training. It all builds over time. You learn more, you practise more, and then you receive more through it. You can appreciate more. I don't know if this is, but it just happened to be something that I was using for the news on Radio Maria. Canon Marcus Holden, who's Rector of the Beda College, he was speaking about Adoration and rosary. He just made a very nice point about, these are pretty much his words, and he was talking about how God is with us in many different ways: spiritually in His Word, in Scripture; physically in the Holy Eucharist as His real presence, and how that's a really tangible presence for us. And he mentioned how we're physical creatures. We need the intellectual realm. We need the spiritual realm. And we need the physical realm too. So Christ comes to us in the Mass, in Eucharistic adoration, and we know with our senses that He is there and the veil between heaven and earth is very thin at these times. Canon Marcus was saying that this makes prayer very grounded, very real, very immediate, very personal. Because we're made for a relationship with God, the reason for creation, for our faith, is to be united with God in Jesus Christ. And the Eucharist is a very direct way of being with God. 

That is really powerful, yeah, that's beautiful. I think it sums up well what you've been talking about and how you started in Medjugorje wanting to know more about the Eucharist. So I can see how that appealed to you, and I think there'll be listeners that that appeals to you too. I'm going to give that a bit of thought. I think there's really good insights there, condensed down in a way that we perhaps would find it hard to put together as well as Canon Marcus did. It's good stuff. 

It's always lovely, isn't it? When somebody else distils things down. Yes, I like that.

Rebecca, thanks for joining the conversation today. It's been really interesting listening to you. There's lots there I know will resonate with listeners and I feel like I can really see your relationship with God. You searching for God. You trying to pray differently, better. Find ways to grow your relationship with God and God meeting you in all of those points with people, and places to go, reflections, scripture that meets where you're at. I feel that's come across really well in this conversation and I hope listeners will feel that too. Thanks ever so much for giving us some time today. 

You're most welcome. Thank you again for inviting me on. It's been great to chat about it. It made me think about it as well.

Thanks so much for joining me on All Kinds of Catholic this time.  I hope today's conversation has resonated with you.  A new episode is released each Wednesday. Follow All Kinds of Catholic on the usual podcast platforms. Rate and review to help others find it. And follow our X, Twitter and Facebook accounts @KindsofCatholic. You can comment on episodes and be part of the dialogue there.  You can also text me if you're listening to the podcast on your phone, although I won't be able to reply to those texts. Until the next time.