A listener named Brian asks Father Dave about a specific part of the Eucharistic Prayer. “The words of the consecration say that Jesus took the bread, said the blessing, gave it to his disciples, and it ends with ‘do this in memory of me,’” Brian begins. “My question is, if Jesus said the blessing, and I assume that blessing they referred to was something standard in the Hebrew tradition, why is that blessing not part of the Eucharistic Prayer?”

Some might think faith and science are mutually exclusive, but Father Dave welcomes astrophysicist and Jesuit priest Father Adam Hincks to debunk that mindset. Father Adam is an assistant professor in Science, Christianity, and Cultures at the University of Toronto, as well as an associate scholar with the Vatican Observatory.

Our temporary producer “Maternity Leave Matt” asks Father Dave about an upcoming event for the global Church. “One of my first days on the job here, I saw a headline for the upcoming Jubilee,” Matt says. “My question is, what is the Jubilee?”

As we encounter artificial intelligence in our daily lives, Father Dave welcomes professor and author Dr. Joseph Vukov to discuss his new book, “Staying Human in an Era of Artificial Intelligence.” Dr. Vukov serves as Associate Professor of Philosophy and the Associate Director of the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at Loyola University Chicago.

A listener named Matt asks a question of faith about the varying tones present in the Gospel.  “The parables seem to span from God's Kingdom is awesome and kind; we’ll go out after that lamb that's lost and leave the 99 behind all the way to the other end of the spectrum of, if you don't have enough oil in your lamp, forget it.   You're not coming into the house. Just love to hear your thoughts on what could be driving that spectrum.”

Father Dave says that Jesus and the Gospel writers all use different imagery to convey their messages, including the descriptive and symbolic language Matt mentions in the parables.

LISTEN: Is the God of the Old Testament Angry?

“Jesus and the Gospel writers are intentional about that, because it's not all just warm and fuzzy,” Father Dave says.  “Gospel means ‘good news.’ It's good news that we can be saved and have eternal life with God, even if we're sinners, but it's not a free ticket. Jesus commands us to love one another, to wash one another's feet. He commands us to pick up our cross and to be other- centered and to pray for our enemies. All of this is part of his message. And so what you're saying is some of the parables and stories run that gamut — some sound warm and fuzzy, but others don't sound warm and fuzzy.”

Father Dave adds that this spectrum of parables, from God seeming vengeful to being an all-loving God, is meant to challenge us and our notion of God. When it comes to God, he is not either or, he is both.  

LISTEN: Encountering Jesus in the Gospels With Professor William Mattison

“The issue,” Father Dave says, “is that in our more finite human minds, it's hard for us to believe that it’s all true. We want God either to be mean or to be nice and brotherly, and it doesn't make sense that he can be, or we can be, held to a standard that includes both.”

“The Gospel message includes the idea that no matter how much we’ve sinned, God forgives us and offers us his grace. But the Gospel message also includes standards for living in the kingdom of God.  Christ will be our ultimate judge, particularly at the end of our lives and at the end of time,” Father Dave reminds us. 

A listener named Brad asks a question of faith: “Outside of Lent, if we choose the penance option, what are some examples of penance to choose from?”

Father Dave begins by explaining what Brad means by the “penance option.”  

“Prior to the Second Vatican Council in the ‘60s, Catholics would have been very familiar with abstaining from eating meat every Friday of the year. We celebrate Friday as the day that Christ gave up his life for us. Good Friday is the day he hung on the cross and died. And so Fridays, we try to recognize that a bit in our actual living of our daily life. There was a decision made at the Second Vatican Council that we should still recognize Fridays in some way. We should realize that it's a day for remembering Christ's death and do some sort of penitential act; some sort of sacrifice. So everybody used to just not eat meat.”

Father Dave explains that the Second Vatican Council confirmed that Catholics no longer have to abstain from meat on Fridays, but every Catholic is required to do some sort of penance to commemorate Christ’s death.  

So what are some examples of penitential actions Catholics can do? “It would be anything that might be a little bit of a sacrifice,” Father Dave says. “It doesn't have to be really difficult. It's not supposed to match the thing that we're remembering. We don't have to be hanging on the cross and dying for someone else. It could be something as simple as, Here's something that I usually do in my everyday life, but I'm gonna skip it on Fridays.”   

Father Dave goes on to say that a penitential act on a Friday doesn’t have to be a huge sacrifice. For example, it could be doing something charitable or adding more prayer to your day.  “I think the spirit behind why the Church invited us to be more broad and more creative with this is that some people might choose to do something like go to daily Mass if they don't normally go to daily Mass or pray the Rosary if they don't normally pray the Rosary every day. So the idea would be that on Friday, we're recognizing and memorializing the fact that it’s the day that Christ died for us. We should have a sense of gratitude for that immense gift, and it could either come in the form of some sort of sacrifice, some kind of service for others, or in the form of a spiritual edification.”

Our temporary producer “Maternity Leave Matt” has a few more days before Krista returns to work, so he’s squeezing in some last questions of faith for Father Dave:

Matt asks a two-part question, “Are there ever times when you don’t feel like being Father Dave, when you don’t want to be recognized as a priest? And has there been a time when you didn’t want to be a priest anymore?”

Father Dave responds to the second part of the question first, “No, in my 24 years of being an ordained priest, and then six years of discerning before that, I've never really had doubts that this is overall the right calling for me.”

LISTEN: Fatherly Advice: Discerning Priesthood

Father Dave shares that in any job or relationship, there are ups and downs, good times and bad, but even in very difficult times, he’s never had doubts. 

Father Dave discusses a particularly difficult time back in 2002, when the story broke of sexual abuse in the Church. Father Dave had only been a priest for two years, and had experienced the priesthood generally perceived as a virtuous and positive vocation, but after that, things changed. “That was the first time I was experiencing it not being universally perceived by others as a positive thing, like when people were like, ‘Oh, you're a priest, that means you're a pedophile, that means you're part of this Church that's covering up scandal. Of my entire priesthood and even seminary discernment, that was a time that I was given most pause about, Wow, this isn't what I was anticipating. And is this really what I signed up for? But even at that most difficult moment, there was never a thought of well, let me get my resume together or that sort of thing. So in that broader sense, I have never really not wanted to be father Dave and not wanted to be a priest anymore.”

LISTEN: Father Dave Answers Questions on Priesthood From ‘Maternity Leave Matt’

In response to the first part of Matt’s question, “Is there ever a time when you don’t want to be recognized as a priest? Father Dave says, “I don't think you have to be a priest who's got a radio following to feel this way…I think it's a public enough role in general, even if you're just a small parish priest, that there's still a lot of expectations put on one in this sort of role. So yeah, it’s nice to have a little breather where there's not constantly that expectation, whether that means on vacation or maybe on a priest's day off.”

Even though it’s nice to have an occasional break, Father Dave has never wished to be anonymous.  

“It was just a few months ago that for the first time in my life, Matt, somebody actually spit in my face walking down the street. Even in a moment like that, it was not my first reaction to think, Oh, if only I hadn't been wearing the collar, or, Oh, if only I had chosen a different career path, or something like that. And this is only through the Holy Spirit's blessing, no great virtue of my own, that I was able to think that, you know, what has happened to that person in their life that has caused them to do that? As opposed to, hey, I'm really ticked off that you spit in my face. So, I mean in general, no, there isn’t a time when I don't want to be recognized as a priest.”