August 2, 2025 - Praying with Scripture

The conversation covers local community announcements, including a new rosary ministry at a Jackson County medical care facility aimed at bringing joy to isolated residents. It also discusses the importance of spending time with Scripture, addressing fears of misunderstanding, and the value of having questions or concerns to guide one's prayer. The speaker demonstrates how to pray with a passage of Scripture, emphasizing the importance of attentiveness and dialogue with God.

MC: Adam Hohn

Parochial Vicar: Tyler Arens

Presenter: Joseph Gruber

Deacon: Rick Freedberg

Brought to you By: The Knights of Columbus

participantOne:(0-29800): Do you have any local area announcements, things going on? Yep. When's the last time you had an opportunity to bring joy to someone's life, other than Christmas and gifts? But we have an opportunity for you if you're interested. Who's the very one in Jackson County who had a repair facility over on Lane C Avenue? Me. And do you know how it got implemented, how it got started?

participantOne:(30420-57780): So back in the early days of Jackson, the community there used to, what was referred to as in many communities, it was a courthouse where people that didn't have any money or funds would go and be able to receive care in our later days of life. Back in 1932 in Michigan, they passed some new legislation that provided funding for such facilities and that's when it became the Jackson County Medical Care Facility.

participantOne:(58460-76100): They have about 190 residents, of which there are, I don't know what the percentage is, maybe 10 or 20 percent are Catholic. And we are implementing a rosary ministry on, we're starting on the third Saturday of the month at 930.

participantOne:(76380-104940): What we do is we go to the facility, they give us a list of Catholics residents, and we go to their room. If they're interested in participating in the rosary, we bring them back to a designated area right next to the chapel, and we do the rosary, we get them back to their room. So you get there at 9.30, and we're done by 11. So what I mean about bringing joy to someone's life, these are Catholics that are very isolated.

participantOne:(105160-120920): They don't get out of the facility. Some have family that don't visit often. Some don't have any family at all. Some are in the later days of their lives. Some are there for rehabilitative purposes, but they're all lonely and they need connection.

participantOne:(121300-150340): So we're implementing this rosary ministry. Again, it's an hour and a half on a Saturday. Perfect timing because we get done here with CORE, depending on how long you stay for discussions between 8 and 9. So it's a medical care facility at 9.30. Next week I'll have little reminder cards. If you're interested in joining, please do. It's a worthy ministry. It's a corporal work of mercy. So I hope you consider it. Hour and a half of bringing joy to someone's life. Thank you.

participantOne:(153660-189400): Thanks Mark. Any other local area announcements? Maybe, possibly, today's a special day for somebody. Today's Jonathan Larson's birthday. I love it. Will everybody join me in singing happy birthday to Jonathan? Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.

participantOne:(190180-203940): Happy birthday dear Jonathan, happy birthday to you.

participantOne:(204720-226299): His Star Wars themed birthday party will be later. You guys will be given all the e-bites and things. Confetti cake. Anything else? Anything else going on locally? I know we had the Lugnuts game last night up in Lansing. Anything else? All right. So I.

participantOne:(225920-260339): I will now introduce our speaker, been steadfast with the core program since day one, our friend Joseph Ruber. Good morning. Good to see you all. Good to be seeing you. Yeah. Anyone mind if we pray again? Great. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Direct O Lord our actions by thy holy inspiration and carry them on by thy gracious assistance

participantOne:(260620-284920): that every word and work of ours may begin in thee and by thee be happily ended. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. For the month of August, we're going to be diving into the theme of Scripture, which is a great theme to dive into. It's very, very broad. Scripture covers a lot of ground. In fact, covers all the ground. It is also...

participantOne:(286000-318940): One of the craziest things that God could do to us is to communicate to us over the course of 73 books, his will, his mind, his desire for us. Scripture, I think, can be a very intimidating topic for many men, especially if some of us aren't maybe habitual readers. The fact that God wants us to read might take us by surprise. So today I want to cover two things, basically.

participantOne:(319180-348900): And then I'm going to give a sort of demonstration of how I would pray with a passage of scripture. So those are the three things that I'm going to do. And then you guys will have a chance to sit and pray with tomorrow's gospel. And then you'll have a chance to have discussion in small groups at the tables. So I'll do three things. You'll do two things. And by the grace of God, everything will be done well.

participantOne:(350000-383860): All right. I want to cover two points and then the demonstration. The first point is a reason why I think a lot of us will push off spending time with Scripture, why we would hesitate to spend a lot of time with the Bible. And then to cover a point of why we should spend time in Scripture. And I think if I cover both of those well, that will be helpful. Does that sound...

participantOne:(384680-409860): like a decent proposition. If I remove one obstacle and give one reason, that should maybe help accelerate us. All right. A reason I think sometimes men might want to push off reading scripture, spending time daily in God's word, is a fear of misunderstanding.

participantOne:(410620-437880): Of saying, you know, this Bible, it seems like dangerous business spending too much time with God's word. Maybe I'll end up as a heretic. Maybe I'll end up as, you know, maybe I'll want to start my own church or maybe I'll follow in the trails of such heretics as Arius or Marcion or Luther or Zwingli. Right. Right.

participantOne:(438300-470500): I think a lot of men, even if you don't know those names, there's this fear like, what if I read scripture and I get it totally wrong? Or what if I read scripture and I feel like after reading this, the church is wrong? What do I do then? That fear can be paralyzing. And I think one of the ways to approach that fear is to say, who are you as you're listening to scripture? And I think a lot of us...

participantOne:(470960-500060): are kind of default when we're listening to God's word. It's like when we're listening in to our parents having a discussion and we're afraid that maybe just maybe if we're listening to their discussion, what we're actually doing is facilitating domestic dispute, that God might be actually at odds with his church or his church might be at odds with God. And by listening in, we are facilitating domestic disputes.

participantOne:(500340-528380): So like many children of divorce, they struggle with this fear that maybe their very existence is the reason why their parents were no longer together. And I think sometimes something like that fear is entering into why we wouldn't want to spend time with scripture. It's because we would say, well, maybe just by reading it, we're causing a problem. Does this...

participantOne:(529060-560780): Like Ash Wednesday, the gospel reading for Ash Wednesday. Does anyone remember what the gospel reading for Ash Wednesday is? It includes the passage where Jesus says, hey, don't be like those hypocrites and put ashes on yourself. And then we get up and we get ashes put on ourselves. Right. And it feels like there's a contradiction. It feels like there is something going on here.

participantOne:(561000-594300): And by listening, we're like, oh, no, maybe the church is wrong. Oh, no. What are we even doing? Oh, no. This is also the passage right around where he says, call no man father or something. And the priest, I just called him father. But what the heck? And I think we're approaching it as if we have very little agency and have very little to say ourselves. And what I want to invite you, instead of looking at it as I'm listening to this as if it's

participantOne:(594520-629260): God the Father and Holy Mother Church having an argument? Maybe, just maybe, that's not the framework for reading Scripture. Maybe, just maybe, the framework for reading Scripture is our beloved wants to communicate with us. He wants a spousal relationship with us. It's not us listening to parents. It's us being invited into the conversation that Jesus actually wants to talk to us as one spouse to another.

participantOne:(629939-660740): And this can also freak a lot of men out, right? Like my wife and I, we run a marriage ministry. I don't know if everybody here knows this. We run a marriage ministry. And I was telling one of my brothers, you know, hey, you should come to one of the workshops that we're doing. And he said, why would I want to do that? My marriage is going just fine. The only thing that could possibly happen is if we talk more, things could get worse. Yeah.

participantOne:(661719-692900): I was like, is that the only option? And he's like, yes, that is the only option. And do you know what? This past week, I was in Pittsburgh, where I am from, and I put on workshops for married couples this past week, and I convinced my brother to come. We went around, and I asked the guys, what brings you here? And he's like, my brother guilted me into coming. He's like, darn tootin', I did. I did.

participantOne:(694180-725360): And he came on Tuesday and his wife came on Wednesday for the wives session. And then on Thursday we had the couples. And do you know what? They were talking to each other, my brother and his bride. And things did not seem to be getting worse, at least so far. You know, we're only two days after. But I think there's this idea God wants a relationship with you and he wants to have a conversation with you. If we say, I don't want to listen to his word because I might misunderstand it.

participantOne:(727100-750820): That's like saying, I don't want to talk to my wife because I might misunderstand her. No, no, no, no. My friends. The solution is actually more listening and more discussing and more like repeating back and saying, this is what I heard. Is this what you meant? This is what I thought you were saying. What does that actually mean? What are you asking of me?

participantOne:(751699-782260): These are conversations that we should be having in our marriages, but this is also the kind of conversation we should be having when we're reading Scripture and praying with Scripture. So I think this fear of misunderstanding, it's got these layers, right? Like fear that we're facilitating domestic dispute just by showing up, or fear that we don't actually know how to enter into a loving relationship with the God who created us, but he speaks to us,

participantOne:(782540-818300): because he wants to be in dialogue with us. So if we have a misunderstanding, the answer is not to run away from it. The answer is to actually lean into it and say, okay, I don't understand. To have the humility to say, I don't know what you mean here, God. And I'm willing to sit with you and talk with you and listen and ask questions for as long as it takes. Okay, fear...

participantOne:(818540-851700): Keeps, I think, a decent chunk of us away from Scripture, a decent chunk of the time. Something that should draw us to Scripture is oftentimes like the zeroth step in Lectio Divina, is having something to pray about. How many of you guys have a perfect life right now where everything is going well, you understand everything that's going on, and all of your relationships are 100% thriving?

participantOne:(852220-885880): Any hands? Got one. We got one guy where everything is going exactly according to plan. Not your plan, God's plan. If you know that, then you're great. But if there's anything that we don't know, if there's anything that we would like to know, if there's anything that we want to talk to God about, to take that minute and to really try to put that into words.

participantOne:(886600-920040): It's like, have you ever gone shopping with someone who didn't have anything they were shopping for? Oftentimes women will do this. They'll go shopping. They're not looking for anything. They're just going because they like the experience. Typically, and this is a very broad brush and it may not apply to all the men in the room. If men go shopping, we go shopping for something to just generically show up.

participantOne:(920360-952680): and say, well, maybe something will catch my eye, doesn't really sit well with most of us. And I know similarly when my wife and I look at our budget and she's just like reviewing all of our expenses in the past and all of our expenses coming up, I'm like, I don't even know what I'm looking for here until we have a financial goal. When we have a financial goal, I'm like, oh, we're saving for something. Okay, that changes everything about what we're spending.

participantOne:(952980-979680): When we have a goal, when we have something that we're trying to seek, that changes our approach. So gentlemen, if you don't have anything you're looking for from God, there's probably very little reason for you to pray. But again, if there's anything out of place in your heart, in your mind, if there's anything out of place in your relationships, if there's anything out of place in your career...

participantOne:(979959-1007520): If there's anything out of place where you're like, I'm not sure what the next step is. I'm not sure what the answer is. I'm not sure what the insight is. To go with a question. And anyone who has a question is on a quest. And gentlemen, prayer can be a quest. When we are in the face of the Almighty God, we don't demand answers from him. But we submit them with open hand and say, Lord, this is what I'm coming with.

participantOne:(1008180-1054780): And if we're doing that with an open hand, we're also able to receive anything that he might have to give us. So if you have a real question, if you have a real issue that you're facing internally, externally, in your relationships, in your own heart, that is a reason to go to Scripture. All right. I'm going to ask Dennis, give me a number between 1 and 4. 3. Okay. Jonathan, give me a number between 1 and 24. 2.

participantOne:(1056080-1097020): Okay, great. Cool. So, Luke chapter 2. I'm going to go to that in my handy-dandy Bible. It's almost pocket-sized. It's not quite. Okay, so I'm going to just spend a couple of minutes and kind of narrate how I would approach a passage in Scripture. Because that's what we are called. Well, we're not called to narrate how we pray. Most people don't need to do that.

participantOne:(1097340-1130180): But we are called to actually wrestle with Scripture. And the church proposes Scripture to us every day and every week in the liturgy of the hours and in the Mass. The Scriptures are the church's prayer book, right? We pray as a people with Scripture. I will look at... So I'm looking at chapter 2 of Luke's Gospel. Let's say I was playing Bible roulette and I just opened to a random Bible passage, right?

participantOne:(1130940-1161520): What I would probably do is I would just skim the chapter and say, okay, is there anything here that immediately stands out? This has the birth of Jesus and being wrapped in swaddling cloths. The shepherds coming with the angel saying glory to God in the highest. We have his circumcision. The presentation with the prophecy of Simeon. And then...

participantOne:(1162580-1195680): the finding of the child Jesus when he's 12 years old. This is a pretty action-packed chapter, right? Like immediately probably some images came to mind as I said what's in the chapter. So I'm just gonna go, I'm not gonna ask for like a number between 1 and 52 because that feels like obnoxious, but I'm just gonna go a little bit into the, we'll go with the passage of the finding of the child Jesus when he's 12.

participantOne:(1196740-1227920): So why am I coming to Scripture this morning? What's on my mind? I was just in Pittsburgh visiting family. There's some turmoil in my family. There are some bad things have happened that are not well resolved yet. So it's been uppermost on my mind for months now. So that's what I'm coming like, Lord, not like Lord, I'll just pray out loud, Lord,

participantOne:(1228180-1259160): I really do want more insight into what's going on in my family. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover, and when he was 12 years old they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day's journey, and they saw him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances. And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem seeking him.

participantOne:(1259700-1287960): After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when they saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously. And he said to them, How is it that you have sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my father's house?

participantOne:(1288560-1318520): and they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. And his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man." So as I'm reading it, I'm looking for the things that stand out to me. Immediately the things that were standing up to me as I was reading, I was noticing, okay this is Passover. For some reason, guys, I forgot that this happened at Passover and that

participantOne:(1318920-1354080): is a really significant time in the history of Israel. But that stood out to me, and that it was their custom to go. And so immediately thoughts were coming to me of like, what were the customs in my childhood? What were the things going on growing up? Am I supposed to be attentive to what was going on then? Is that something that God wants to talk to me about? And in particular, there's this sense of...

participantOne:(1354920-1374620): The boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. I'm from a relatively large family, and one of the things that often comes up in large families and when I pray with Scripture, both together, is a feeling of being a little bit left out. It's easy to be forgotten. It's easy to be missed in a larger family.

participantOne:(1375120-1402000): And some children thrive on that because they can get away with things. And some children, they just want to be seen. They want to be known. And here is Jesus. He stayed behind. And it took his parents a whole day to notice that he wasn't there. And this feeling like, is he left out? You know, is that something Jesus experienced? Did he have that emotional response? Or did he have a different emotional response?

participantOne:(1403300-1431260): And it doesn't seem like that was his response. He was just attentive to the will of God. And that's been something that, again and again, I think to Steve's point earlier, to realize that everything that happens in my life, God is there and God is operating. And he's waiting for me to see him at work. And Jesus is never taking his eyes off of the Father. So, like...

participantOne:(1433220-1467240): As I'm reading this and thinking about it, like, yeah, here is an example of someone who was left behind, and it didn't hurt him because he didn't leave his father's house and his eyes were on God the Father. And maybe that doesn't seem very profound to you, and maybe that's not, like, the thing that you need to hear right now, but as I'm

participantOne:(1467460-1500680): thinking about that, like that's coming home right now more clearly, which is really cool, right? Like, I didn't know what passage we were going to look at this morning. I didn't know how it would relate to my life. But I do know areas in my life where I have been wounded and areas in my life that Jesus still wants to address. And...

participantOne:(1502680-1535080): And he does. He does want to give me an example of the proper way to live. So, and then I can actually talk to Jesus about it. I don't just have to think about Jesus as an abstract figure or as a faraway figure. I can actually talk to him. Lord, you were left behind and you made the most of it. You got to ask questions of these people and you got to give answers to these people.

participantOne:(1535740-1569300): Like, you knew you were within the Father's will at all times. There was no point in time, Lord, where you had to feel left out because you knew that you were in the divine plan. Lord, I want to know that more. I want to be more present to you than I am to my phone, more present to you than I am even to my own family, that the things that are distracting me from the present moment

participantOne:(1569820-1613960): where I might be feeling alone, where I might be feeling lost, where I might be feeling discouraged. Lord, I want to be more attentive to you because in the present moment, you seek the Father's will. Amen. And that's probably enough for an example right now. The idea is any passage, gentlemen, if you are aware of who you are, what you've been through, what you're facing, you can take a passage of Scripture and listen and see what stands out

participantOne:(1614420-1647500): Think about why it stands out and then actually talk to Jesus about it. You can talk to the word of God and use scripture as the conversation starter. So don't know how instructive that was for any of you, but you can do it in five minutes. You can do it. You can take an hour. There are some passages in scripture that I will literally spend like a month on every morning, just spending time with it and then talking to our Lord about it.

participantOne:(1649020-1676940): And it has shaped me. It has changed me. It has given me more insight into who I am and who God is calling me to be. It has given me insight into how to love. It has given me insight into the God of mercy. And, yeah, how much Jesus actually does care for me as a person. And I know that he wants the same thing for everyone in this room. So.

participantOne:(1677180-1708240): Without further ado, we're going to have about 10 minutes of silence. There should be passages on your tables with this upcoming Sunday's reading. So write like, you didn't choose the reading, the reading chose you. You can put it that way. I think it's a funny way to put it. So we'll take a moment, we'll say a prayer to the Holy Spirit for openness, and then we'll have about 10 minutes of silence before we head back for discussion.

participantOne:(1708780-1736240): Before we do that, are there any questions? No, but I did remember something. You remembered something, but it's not a question. No, it's not a question. It doesn't really have anything to pertain to. This is like a distraction. Kind of. All right. In Bible studies, back when I was a Catholic missionary, we would call these like red herrings, like things that just took us way off the beaten path.

participantOne:(1736920-1764120): Never give the microphone to a guy who's saying he has a red herring. Never do it. Never do it. It doesn't directly pertain to the reading. A couple weeks ago, I was in Texas for a conference for the Knights of Columbus. The Supreme Knight shared a story where he met the Pope. The Pope does know about the Knights of Columbus. More importantly, he does know about the core initiative.

participantOne:(1764620-1790900): The Pope is full support. He's excited that you're here right now. Yes, that's the most important thing. The Pope's excited that you're praying with Scripture right now. This is needed. The Pope recognizes it. It's amazing. Thanks, Kenneth. All right, let's pray. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Come, Holy Spirit, teach us how to pray.

participantOne:(1791980-1827660): Bring light to our hearts and our minds, that we might see what you want us most to see in Scripture, that we may be able to speak to our Lord more clearly and hear him more faithfully. May Scripture lead us to greater charity and always closer to you. So, Adam, look ahead, you read aloud. Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, Teacher, tell my brother to share my inheritance with me.

participantOne:(1828120-1859760): He replied to him, Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbiter? Then he said to the crowd, Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions. Then he told them a miracle. There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, What shall I do? For I do not have the space to store my harvest. And he said, This is what I shall do.

participantOne:(1860080-1880340): I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods. And I shall say to myself now, as far for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years. Rest, eat, drink, and be merry.

participantOne:(1880860-1903000): But God said to him, You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you, and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong? Thus will it be for all who store up treasures for themselves, but not the rich in what matters to God. But are not rich. Yeah, but are not rich in what matters to God.