Freedom and the Riddle of Strider
The meeting began with a prayer and a welcome by Joseph Gruber, who introduced two new attendees. The group discussed a challenge to make invitations, with humorous anecdotes about excuses for not attending. John Domeen made an announcement about Mighty Man Ministries, encouraging participation in a program to mentor boys. Maynard, the speaker, discussed the theme of freedom, using a poem from J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Fellowship of the Ring' to illustrate spiritual freedom and the importance of making good choices. The session concluded with a moment of silence and small group discussions based on the poem and provided questions.
MC: Joseph Gruber
Parochial Vicar: Tyler Arens
Presenter: Maynard Hartke
Deacon: Rick Freedberg
Brought to you By: The Knights of Columbus
Audio Trasnscription
participantOne:(0-15320): We begin in prayer, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you and we praise you. We thank you for the great gift that is this day, the great gifts that are these men around us.
participantOne:(15840-43660): We pray for your blessing upon this morning, upon the talk, upon the discussion, upon the time of prayer. We pray, Lord, that we may be better men because of it. And we pray, Lord, that we may be able to love our wives, our children, our brothers, our sisters, our parents, our neighbors, our coworkers. That we may be able to love all that we see today better because of this morning. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
participantOne:(44519-75180): Hello, I, oh, now Deacon Rick shows up. Just missed praying. Awesome. I am Joseph Gruber. You may call me Joseph. Let's do a quick check-in. Last week we talked about making invitations briefly. First off, do we have anybody here new today? We got one. That's great. Yeah, that would be you. Bill's actually new too. Bill? Okay, so we got two new people. Awesome. Awesome.
participantOne:(76320-104080): Last week, we made a challenge about who can make the most invitations. Who made more than one invitation? Okay. Who made more than five invitations? All right. So we have a threshold that we still need to preach. All right. Another game. Who got the best excuse for not coming? Okay.
participantOne:(104380-126260): Now, I thought I had the best excuse because one guy texted me back saying, I can't come. My wife just had the baby and we're in the NICU. I was like, that's a pretty darn good reason. And I was like, that's probably going to be the best reason. But then I got another text from another guy saying, I can't come.
participantOne:(126620-152120): My wife just had an emergency C-section and my baby's in the NICU and is slotted for open heart surgery. I was like, that, that is a, that took the cake for best reason not to be here this morning. All right. So this is CORE. CORE is Latin for heart. It is an invitation from the Knights of Columbus to return to the heart of what really matters.
participantOne:(152440-158940): and that is prayer, formation, and fraternity. Prayer, so that we might love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.
participantOne:(159540-183359): fraternity that we might love our neighbor, and formation that we might love ourselves. So each week we provide opportunities for prayer, formation, and fraternity. These are three essential things that all men need, so you never need to be afraid that you're inviting someone who doesn't really belong, because if they are our man, they belong, because this is something we all need.
participantOne:(184140-224400): All right, this morning we will be hearing from Maynard in a moment. A few housekeeping things for those who are not aware. Bathrooms are over there. Coffee and donuts are over there. I think that's the only housekeeping thing. I'm going to invite John Domeen up with an announcement in just a moment. Are there any other announcements before I do that? Seeing none, I am now going to hand the microphone off to John Domeen. Thank you, Joe. We are...
participantOne:(225180-256760): We had our Knights meeting last Tuesday, and one of our presenters came asking about Mighty Man Ministries. And over here on the table, there's several flyers that say what they're all about, all the things that they do. But this in particular is an appeal. They're trying to get 50 men to pray with 50 boys who don't have role models, who don't have a man.
participantOne:(256960-296780): that they can look up to in their life. If you're interested in doing that, and I think it's a wonderful opportunity to teach these boys how to pray and how real God is. Come on up, get one of these forms, fill it out, send it in, and they'll get a hold of you. Okay, most everybody here knows Maynard, and if you don't, you ought to. Maynard's going to be our speaker today. There was a poem that really caught his heart, and he's going to show us how interwoven spiritualism
participantOne:(297240-328880): that poem is with the idea of freedom. Here we go, Maynard. Yes, good morning. Something John didn't mention is that with this form, this application, there could be a background check because you do make contact with the youngster or whatever that you'll be praying for and or with. Again, as John mentioned, our theme this month, for the whole month, is freedom.
participantOne:(330060-359900): With that, I'd like to start with the Our Father and pay close attention, or I want to emphasize the part, Thy will be done, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses.
participantOne:(360240-393300): as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen. All right. First off, we need to realize that without freedom, there are no choices to be made. This is thus. No one can embrace faith against his or her will. It is freedom of choice.
participantOne:(394260-432340): Faith involves a free human act where our minds and our hearts cooperate with the divine grace of God. That's a mouthful. Secondly, we do not see freedom of choice or free will as God does. We can only strive for a better understanding through church teachings, the Bible, prayer, and core, of course. Concerning making right choices is why I was struck by this poem.
participantOne:(433100-466620): This poem comes from J.R.R. Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring. If you ever read The Hobbit or Fellowship of the Ring or any of those, you know that they develop mostly around a ring that is evil and has dark powers. And basically he depicts a journey of a hobbit, elves, etc.
participantOne:(467080-510140): and the objective of their journey is to destroy this ring. I'm simply taking the liberty to adapt the poem from the J.R. Tolkien's wrote in The Fellowship of the Ring to our theme of freedom this month. Let's read the poem. I'll read the poem. You can follow along or you can just listen. Let it sink in a little bit.
participantOne:(513219-549420): All that is gold does not glitter. Not all those who wander are lost. The old that is strong does not wither. Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken. A light from the shadows shall spring. Renewed shall be a blade that was broken. The crownless again shall be king. So, again, I took the liberty to kind of...
participantOne:(549800-587840): paraphrase some of these. For example, the first line, all that is gold does not glitter. I immediately turned that around and I came up with all that is glitter, material possessions, money, power, is not gold. Gold is God. Secondly, the second line, not all those who wander are lost.
participantOne:(588819-624300): As you know, Christ wandered the earth, but he wasn't lost. At all times he had a purpose. His purpose was God's will. With God's will there's freedom. The third line, the old that is strong does not wither. You know you take a flower or a leaf, a tree, and when it dies it withers, it's gone. Not that way for humans.
participantOne:(626380-653400): If we remain strong in God's will and make good choices, we will experience time or true freedom on this earth and the promise of salvation forever. Another, deep roots are not reached by the frost. Immediately, I thought of the contractor that built the house. The first thing he does...
participantOne:(653880-688040): is make sure that the cement, the foundation, is at least 30 inches down so that the frost can't lift it and ruin the house. Also, the objective is to make the cement or the foundation strong. We, that's our goal in life, is to make our foundation in Christ strong. And again, with that we gain freedom.
participantOne:(688360-719260): I'll skip down to the last line. The crownless again shall be king. Christ stated emphatically that the lowly will inherit the earth. Or go up a line or two. A light from the shadows will spring. Remember, Christ clearly said he is the light of the world. So, to conclude, remember to be free.
participantOne:(719839-759080): To be free, there needs to be a conscious effort on our part to realize that we are, in fact, free. Thus, no one can be forced to embrace faith against his or her will. It necessarily involves a human act. So, I indulge you in your freedom given to you by the grace of God through prayer and reflection to...
participantOne:(761600-805460): exercise that freedom. I've included some discussion questions. I'm actually ahead of time here. So we could kind of take a look at... I might ask, does anyone here, does anyone think stand out in that poem to you? I've given you some of the excerpts that I would have done, but so... Where did you save this poem?
participantOne:(806120-842780): It came from J.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, page 167 to be exact. Think about some of these questions. Name an earth-shaking experience of your life. How did it speak to you of God in relation to the freedom to make a choice? When in your life did you make a bad choice, or when did you make a good decision, and was God included?
participantOne:(843199-882560): Has any of the decisions you have made helped convince you of God's existence? Have you made yourself available to God by focusing on what matters the most? Do you make good decisions and also experience freedom? Have you firmly followed through on the words, Thy will be done, giving yourself hope? With that, I guess I would say that's what I have. We could break up into groups now, maybe take...
participantOne:(882939-925560): five or ten minutes to, you know, just kind of think about this, maybe in quiet, get a pop or a water, or I mean a water or coffee and another donut if you so. And in the discussion groups, something from the poem stands out. Don't be afraid to, you know, if not, work on the discussion questions. With that, I bid you farewell. Thank you.
participantOne:(926699-956660): All right, gentlemen, let's take a couple of minutes, really sit with both the poem, the questions, and the Our Father. If it's been a while since you've really sat with the Our Father and reflected on what it means to be praying to an all-powerful God and how that actually leads to greater freedom, this is a good time to just sit very slowly and pray the words of the Our Father for just a few minutes. So we're going to have three or four minutes of silence.
participantOne:(956860-979720): then we'll break into small groups and move. Somebody put rectangular tables in the back instead of round tables so they're not we can't go to round tables but we'll move to the tables in the back in about four or five minutes. Got it? Silence, then motion.
