My Easter Miracle with Chaplain Fr. Jon Meyer and Host Lindy Wynne

Host Lindy Wynne experienced the grace of Easter when she was baptized at 21 years old.

Join Lindy and Chaplain Fr. Jon Meyer in this Easter "mini-retreat in a podcast," as they explore God's transformational love--a love that is pure gift.

Remaining in God's love can be challenging for us, especially in difficult seasons. Increasing our awareness of God's abundant blessings helps us accept and abide in this eternal love. 

God always wants to penetrate our hearts and bless us with new life.

Listen and learn how! 

Transcript:

Lindy Wynne (00:01.449)

Welcome to Mamas in Spirit, a podcast pointing you towards God in everything you are and everything you do. I'm Lindy Wynne and it's a blessing to be with you. Happy Easter, everyone. It just rolls off the tongue with such delight. As I've said in probably all of our other Easter mini retreats in a podcast, this season of Easter is so important for us to focus on

the grace and the goodness, the generosity, the faithfulness, the miraculousness of God, and to really let that simmer in our hearts so that our hearts can overflow with the love of God. And we have these seven mini retreats in a podcast in order to, in a sense, be intentional that we retreat into the sacred heart of Jesus with all the joys, not just our sufferings, but with all the joys, all the ways that God has been so good to us.

And we are here with our wonderful chaplain, Father Jon Meyer. Father Jon, thank you for joining us.

Fr Jon Meyer (01:05.055)

Happy Easter everyone. Happy Easter to you, Lindy. And we are recording in the morning and I commented to you just before we started that you have two hours on me in terms of the time change. And your joy, your Easter joy is just like radiating and trying to...

penetrate through some of my you know early morning fatigue that's still you know still waking up over here, but it's it's awesome and You speak truth. You know that this Easter season is the reason why? We we call ourselves Christian the reason why our hope lies not here, but in the life to come and it is a reminder not just of what Jesus did but of the love that

draws us into that eternal life that has already begun in our faith and through the sacraments and through the life that we live in Christ.

Lindy Wynne (02:08.703)

Amen. That comes to completion by the glory and praise of God in eternal life. And Father Jon, we are recording this everyone at 10 a.m. my time and I have been up for six hours and I think that this is relevant because my dog

Grace very appropriate woke me up at 4 a.m. by licking my cheek because she does not usually sleep in my room but my husband Brian's been out of town that's probably why I'm so Eastery too he's coming back so I'm gonna sleep better I can't wait I'm so excited so our little one has been sleeping with me we've been roomies

for these last days in my room. So I have been up for six hours, everyone, so you can bet I am awake and I just spent time in the sun reflecting and praying about this time together that I'm so excited about. And I've really been contemplating on Easter moments in our lives and the way that God reveals His joy and His goodness to us every single day. And in a sense, all day long, even if it's a difficult time or a difficult season,

God still shows up in his goodness and his faithfulness and his love. And I say that in all humility because I have been on the receiving end of that so many times in my life, even times and days that were some of the most traumatizing, some of the most difficult in my life. I can look back and think of like, for example, being in the ICU and just having a precious nurse there that just revealed the love and goodness of God or in

the ER unfortunately, even for life saving things and just having doctors surrounding me that felt so protective and so good and so safe that actually two of them in my lifetime I've ended up writing letters to to show my gratitude. So God always shows up. God always shows up. And I think for me, what I'm continuing to learn and what I'm gonna pray for for us right now this morning is that my heart shows up to that goodness because I think it's easy to have

Lindy Wynne (04:16.662)

things that cover my heart, that shield my heart from the goodness of God. We have to shield ourselves from things that are dark by the grace of God, but we do not need to shield ourselves from goodness and from love yet in our humanity. Sometimes we do that. So let's pray about that. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, amen. Dearest Lord, you are Easter itself. You are goodness itself. You change everything. You change everything, Lord.

Fr Jon Meyer (04:35.103)

Amen.

Lindy Wynne (04:45.085)

anything dark that we've ever experienced in our lives, any seasons, any moments, any relationship, you dip in, Lord, you dip in with your goodness and with your generosity to pull us out and to point us towards the light, to point us towards you. And so Lord, I pray that this mini retreat, this time together is a time for us to be fully focused on you, for our hearts to be fully fixed on you, to be able to share your glory, your joy.

and your eternal love. In your name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, amen. And Father Jon, what's on my heart that I can't believe that I did not think about this until right now, because this is one of the greatest joys of my life. I have shared many times that my husband and I waited and my heart waited as a woman with the desire to raise a child from infancy. I waited 10 years.

Fr Jon Meyer (05:17.566)

Amen.

Lindy Wynne (05:43.581)

not knowing if this dream, this desire of my heart would ever come. Although my friend Mary and God is faithful said God would not put a desire on your heart that would not come to fulfillment, which of course I needed to say yes and do movement in there too. And ultimately and eventually 10 years after this desire was planted so deeply in my heart, we adopted our youngest and her name starts with an E and

I never realized this until recently and I have nicknamed her this and called her this so many times because like for me, some people will call me like really close friends or siblings or whoever like Linster. Maybe it's because I'm an 80s kid. I don't know 80s or 90s. Linster. Johnster. Father Johnster. Whoever you are listening to used her. Well, my little, I often call Easter.

Fr Jon Meyer (06:35.475)

You

Lindy Wynne (06:42.875)

Easter. that really touches on the delight. It really touches on the delight and like the goodness and new life and the joy of the Lord. So I just want to share that because I don't want to forget to share that because that is really at the heart of the matter.

Fr Jon Meyer (06:53.406)

Amen.

Fr Jon Meyer (07:04.294)

New life, think, is what was coming to me as you were sharing that, which is the message of Easter. And the call that new life also usually demands from us some kind of death. And so even in that desire that you had, Lindy, I'm sure through those 10 years of waiting, there were little deaths in order to cling to that hope or even in that period of waiting.

trusting in God's providence, in His plan, and then receiving it, obviously, with great joy and now getting to see and be a part of Easter's life, which is such a, you know, it's so appropriate and providential that that's your nickname for her because I think just having walked with you guys through, since the beginning,

Lindy Wynne (07:36.958)

you

Lindy Wynne (07:48.618)

.

Fr Jon Meyer (08:02.952)

of her life that she certainly brings new life and great joy. And that's what Jesus wants to bring us to. The other thing, you before we prayed, you were touching upon again these themes of Easter. And I think you used the word like, you know, learning how to, being able to receive, which

It's always kind of our first stance, right? And so even when you are aware of God's goodness in the difficult moments or in the, I guess, more easy moments of life, there's still that capacity. We need to be able to recognize it. And recognition implies a reception, that we're seeing it through a particular lens. And I know in...

the season of Lent in preparation for Easter, I personally was trying to focus a lot on receiving more God's generosity. I mean, in my head, know God is good, God wants to give, he wants to provide, he wants to offer new life. And yet, so often, it's difficult to be present. It was difficult for me to be present in the moment, to not think of what

Lindy Wynne (09:21.194)

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Fr Jon Meyer (09:29.684)

what do need to do next? Or even to also be weighed down by the stress, the things that had to get done. I mean, the list of things that can just sort of blind me to the generosity of God, which as you pointed out is always there. And it's been a great exercise, not an easy exercise, but before going to bed at night, would...

in my sort of examination would make a point to not just say, okay, Lord, where did I see like your goodness, your generosity, but where did I see it in abundance? Because, as you probably have heard said, like God cannot be outdone in his generosity. And I certainly have tested that a lot in my life, you know, where

my desire to, as I've, as I shared before, be in control, to kind of, to make a plan, or to kind of, in a way, minimize or limit what God can do through me. And time and again, he shows, he shows more, that what, whatever I think can happen more is, is given. And, you know, I can't say that

Throughout my Lenten season, was any fantastic life-changing event in so far as there was that immediate, enters into the depth of the heart transformation. But developing the habit of on a daily basis seeing and trying to recognize God's goodness.

Lindy Wynne (11:17.832)

.

Fr Jon Meyer (11:24.906)

does it help me I think with two things. One is first of all to look in a different way. That what I'm searching for in my own heart is not just you know what weighs me down but also what lifts me up. It's not just focusing on the divisions and I guess the negativity. I mean you could say on

in some ways that this is kind of like a glass have empty, glass have full kind of perspective. But I would say it's more than that insofar as the second thing that it's helped me is to be dependent on God's grace, like your dog, to wake me up. know, just like Grace woke you up at 4 a.m. this morning that

Lindy Wynne (12:23.271)

Yes, and what's coming to my heart is I have been saved by grace and I live on grace and I have lived on God's grace that has truly been the lifeblood, the lifeline for decades of my life.

Fr Jon Meyer (12:24.114)

It is only in depending on God's grace that I'm sometimes able to see not just the goodness of God, but to see it in abundance.

Lindy Wynne (12:52.269)

looking back and my very sustenance because many of you know that that we are a family through the gift of adoption and we have special needs and there's mental illness and we've also had very serious illness as in as in typical bodily illness throughout our story and we've gone through

many seasons that have been incredibly intense every single day. And so what constantly comes back to me and has really taught me to live in the day is to be reliant and dependent on God's grace in the day because God does pour out every day, all day long. And it's funny, this is also reflected in the dog's name, Grace, because I find that sometimes it is the tiny moments.

that delight the heart so deeply and reveal God's love. And it's just recognizing those moments. It's like God is constantly revealing them to us, yet it's up to us if we're really going to see them or sit with them or be with them in order to be with the Lord and let God do the kind of supernatural infilling that overfloweth. So when we got this dog, we got this dog because we moved across the country to Tennessee and I was feeling kind of

bad about that in certain ways, like such a significant transition and all the things for our daughters and for the youngest daughter, the older one already had a dog that all of us parents out there know that was really mine and my husband's dog. We're really the ones taking care of it. Yet at the time, I think our youngest was six and we told her we'd get her a Tennessee dog. And so when we moved across the country,

not the most intelligent decision I've ever made because it just adds chaos to chaos as y'all probably know. Yet we get this puppy, this wild puppy and for weeks before she came our youngest was contemplating the name. Well, I'm gonna call her E for now because that's the letter that I've used and I don't reveal her full name in the podcast. And she was contemplating the name. And so she's making literally so darling these lists of name all the way from, you know, like

Lindy Wynne (15:09.008)

cloud to marshmallow to sweetness to whatever names little girls come up for for dogs yet the name that she was going to choose at first that she was so focused on was none other than her own name

Lindy Wynne (15:32.974)

So, yes, Junior. So here she has this whole list with pumpkin and cupcake and all these things, and then her own name circled in there. Like, this is the name that's gonna be chosen. And I said to her, said, you know, that might be a little awkward because we're about to potty train this dog and give this dog all these kind of commands. So we're gonna be like, E, go potty, E, go potty, E, sit.

Fr Jon Meyer (15:33.012)

A junior?

Lindy Wynne (16:03.567)

So she was like, you're right. You're right. That makes sense. And she's like, okay, I'll name her Grace. Well, Grace is her middle name.

Lindy Wynne (16:15.198)

She ended up naming this dog her middle name. And these are the kinds of stories that stay with me and stay in my heart and continue to delight me and reveal that that joy of the Lord. And there was actually scripture that came to me this morning that is just so incredibly beautiful. And it's from Jon 15, nine, remain in my love. And then verse 10 goes on. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love.

just as I have kept my father's commandments and remain in his love. And then Jon 15, 11 is, I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. And so in a sense, recognizing these Easter blessings is remaining in the love of the Lord. It's remaining with God and choosing in a sense to stay close to God.

and remain in His love and to remain in His goodness.

Fr Jon Meyer (17:16.118)

That's one of my favorite quotes from scripture. You probably don't remember, but that was on the back of my ordination card when I was ordained 10 years ago. So that line of Jon 15, 9, well, it begins, as the father has loved me, so do I love you, remain in my love. Yeah, remaining, you know, is...

I mean, it's an abstract concept in some ways, but it's simple because God is simple. going between what you were sharing earlier about recognizing God's goodness in the difficult seasons of life and in my struggle in recognizing His abundance, I think that's kind of fundamentally the challenge is when we remain in God, we see as God sees.

And if what he offers us is his joy and he wants to complete our joy, then that's the fruit of remaining in his love and remaining and being present to him. But, you know, it's not like we are monks in a monastery or nuns who

sit around contemplating God's goodness all day long. That's not, for most of us, that's not the vocation God has called us to. And I live a semi-monastic life being at a seminary now, but even then it is a tension to remain in God. you know, whatever the listeners, whatever you maybe took up this past Lent,

I think the Easter season invites us to be honest with ourself in how Lent maybe helps us to ground ourselves more, to be more rooted in God. And I think the danger in Easter, especially if we, for example, gave something up, something that we enjoy, is that in Easter we

Lindy Wynne (19:37.955)

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Fr Jon Meyer (19:41.11)

kind of just go back to the way things were. But remaining in God's love on our side is something that's supposed to be constantly new because we're constantly changing. An example of this in my life, you know, as I was again focusing on God's abundant generosity, one of the great, one of the challenges that came along with

just the challenge of recognizing his generosity was also accepting his generosity and really his love in gratuity. That his love is something that can't be earned but is pure gift. you know, it was only as I was wrestling with seeing God's generosity

that I found one of the obstacles to seeing as God sees is that I want to earn His love. I want to be able to say, I've done this and this Lord and so therefore now you can love me. Which is I think not an uncommon mentality. It's certainly a mentality that we carry when it comes to our parents and when it comes to a lot of our activities in life. You know, so many of

of so much of our life is surrounding different transactions, you know, whether it's on Amazon or whether it's in the jobs that we have. And so the philosophy is, well, I'm going to do something and then I'm going to expect something in return. And the extremes, in the extremes that leads us want to either like some kind of entitlement or to a, like a self-deprecation where maybe I don't feel worthy.

And so I'm not going to allow God to love me until I feel worthy. But in this Easter season, when we look at Christ's death and resurrection, which far surpasses both human suffering, but also human glory, we are faced with this mystery of gift that

Fr Jon Meyer (22:03.21)

We can't grasp God's love until we respect that that love comes to us in gratuity, that it's something that he invites us into not because we've earned it, but because he wants to penetrate and bring new life into those parts of us that maybe we're resistant to or where we don't feel worthy or where there is shame and guilt, et cetera. And so I hold that out, you know, as,

may be part of the Easter message. And as we remain in God, it's also with an attitude that this is a pure gift, and that's not always easy to accept that gift.

Lindy Wynne (22:46.245)

Yes, thank you so much for sharing that Father Jon. And I don't think I ever shared in any of the Lenten podcasts what my Lenten practice was this year. And this is a practice that I actually have confidence even though I know that it will be very imperfect.

that it's something that I will continue hopefully kind of endlessly, because it goes back to the first podcast of the season with Dr. Bob Schuetz, where we talked about how healing is a lifelong journey and pilgrimage until we are eternally in the sacred heart of Jesus forever. And so for me, what I did this Lent is I went on a healing journey with the Lord. And every single day,

This is going to sound kind of abstract, but I did something to in the spirit of healing and the Holy Spirit of healing to attend to those different dynamics that you were talking about, Father Jon, like whether it had to do with woundedness or shame or guilt or things of the sort. And I, by the grace of God, dug very, very deep. And I think some of that is because

I wanna be, I desire to be washed that clean. I was baptized as a 21 year old and I will never forget the moment right after my baptism. And one of the retreats that I did not long ago with women, my woman at the well retreat, W-O-M-E-N at the well, we all go to the well together just like right now the well of living water, Christ. I was surprised because

I prepared this whole thing and then I surrender it before each time and I never know exactly what I'm gonna say. I try to stay like just very open and surrender to the Lord. And I shared with them about my baptism and I cried. And I was like, I can't believe I'm crying right now. I'm not even to the hard part. Because that was before I got to some of the real trials in my life and some of the deep conversion and reversions that came through trial.

Lindy Wynne (24:56.747)

But I cried but tears of joy from my baptism because I have never experienced such a cleansing, such a cleanliness, such a pure delight and pure love as my baptism. And right afterwards, I gathered in this tiny room with these other young women who had all been baptized too. And we were changing out of our dark clothes.

and towards the light going into the light and the purification into our white garments, our white gowns that we were wearing for the rest of the mass and the Easter vigil. And that moment, I knew in my soul the grace of Easter because that was Easter for me personally, not big Easter, Jesus' resurrection, but that was

my own small Easter in my life and that that lightness and that kind of buoyant heart to be able to receive that free gift and to be present and hopefully by the grace of God just like dynamically fully alive and loving that is I believe where

God wants us to return to or wants to bless us with time and time again in our lifetimes. That gift of Easter.

Fr Jon Meyer (26:28.466)

Yeah, amen. Could you maybe just with that story, with that experience, maybe I'll preface it just by saying being baptized as an adult, having your conversion to the church as an adult, it's something that I love hearing about because that's not my experience. so,

Even I think my general relation with God as one of transaction in an unhealthy way, those were the habits that developed as a young child. As I'm working with the Lord to be freed and to recognize more His gratuity and again His generosity, I'm curious to know just what

Lindy Wynne (27:19.328)

.

Fr Jon Meyer (27:22.752)

that was like as an adult in terms of understanding God, how you understood God in that conversion and in light of maybe what you experienced prior to that and what was it about God or even the Catholic Church that kind of led you to that new life? What was it that you were dying to? What was it that...

you were letting go of in order to enter into that new life in Christ.

Lindy Wynne (28:00.111)

Yes, well, when I say that I was saved by grace, I was really saved by grace. Like I know myself, I know my experiences, I know my internal experience and life as a child and

I know what I saw and what I experienced and I know what darkness felt like. And then I also discovered and received the profound revelation of light, of light itself. So for those of you who don't know my story well or at all, I was not raised in a religious home.

Yet I think religious homes, mean, that's dynamic. I everybody's experience, everybody's family is so different. And just because someone's been raised in a religious home or a Catholic home doesn't mean that someone hasn't suffered deeply or suffered even in a way beyond comprehension. And in my childhood, just like with life, it wasn't devoid of

love and it wasn't devoid of the difficult things. was an interplay of all the things in life and it left me desiring deeply for love, to know love. Saint Mother Teresa has the quote about the greatest poverty on this earth being the poverty of love. It's not the poverty of food, it's the poverty of love. I'm paraphrasing that. And so I understand

that quote as maybe in some way if we all sat with it, maybe we all do. And so as a nine year old girl, I experienced finding God, discovering God at the water's edge behind my home after the death of my grandfather. And that was an experience of God as my refuge, my safe place, really my everything. was an encounter.

Lindy Wynne (30:11.172)

where I felt beloved. had felt so deeply loved by my grandfather and when he died, that was my first death. And it touched me in a way that I had never experienced before and the grief was great. And he had the reputation of being the glue that held our family together and he truly was. And so as everybody mourned in their own ways and probably everybody listening understands that when somebody

dies in a family. There's so many dynamics unfolding within each person and between each person. And Father Jon and I have talked about family systems before in that unfolds in therapy. And I studied that a little bit in my masters. And so it was a very difficult time. so to maybe the perfect time to talk about Easter and grace to discover the Lord. And so in a very messy unfolding over the next

10 to 12 years of my life, I desired more of God, of grace and of goodness. And so I went on a journey of pilgrimage of the heart and I would attend different churches. This is a much more intricate story, but I went to Baptist Church, I went to Lutheran Church, I went to youth group with friends and I would go sit once I got my

my driver's license, I would go sit in the stillness of Catholic churches and with a little red candle that I didn't know what that meant. And there was something concrete about the Catholic Church and being in there that felt like I was finding what I had found at the water's edge when I discovered God in the church, in the Catholic Church. And it was a very mystical experience. It was a drawing in of the soul. was

the greatest kind of intimacy and intimacy that's beyond words. And I longed for that and I desired that. And then fast forward to when I was 19, right before I went to college, although my parents had announced that they were divorcing soon after my grandfather passed away, they didn't divorce.

Lindy Wynne (32:27.805)

They stayed together and I don't remember the conversation saying that they weren't gonna get divorced. That doesn't mean it didn't happen, but I don't remember it. And so the next 10 years of my life, it was very unstable, like very unstable. And there was not a firm foundation there in regards to my family life at all. And so maybe also that vulnerability is also where God's grace kind of held me and continued to draw me in.

And so at 19, a month before I went to college, my parents announced their separation and they actually separated. And it was a traumatizing affair. I talked about it a little bit in the first podcast of the season. It was really quite frankly, like one of the great traumas and difficulties of my life that's required a lot of healing and God's goodness and God's grace. And that's why I do Mamas in Spirit because I know all things are possible with God because I've received it.

by the glory of God and continue to receive it. So when I went to college, I was suffering that first Christmas, sadly, they announced the finality of their divorce, they were gonna work on things, but they announced that this was gonna happen and they were gonna get divorced. And so I remember being back at college on the campus where the Santa Clara mission is, Mission Santa Clara, and one night I was suffering.

I was really suffering with my parents divorce and what was happening to my family and my heart was hurting and I felt very emotional and I just wanted to go to the mission and be with Jesus. I was not yet Catholic and my precious roommate Jenny, just one of the sweetest souls I've ever met. She went with me and the mission was locked and I was so sad and I sat with her on the front steps of Mission Santa Clara and cried and I think that on the inside

someone who was in there cleaning heard me try to open the doors. Maybe I knocked and they opened the doors and I went in and in my sorrow I went to Christ and soon thereafter I joined RCIA which is now OCIA and it was a beautiful, beautiful experience. The priest was just precious, Father Mario Prieto. He called me little Lindy.

Lindy Wynne (34:48.292)

And I needed that fatherly love, not only from the divine, but also reflected in that father. And also the group, I wish I can't even remember any of their names right now. And they were so precious to me. It was a small group that we just journeyed together over the next year, year and a half. once I joined our CIA and then I was baptized my, my senior year and, and Brian came, he was in Jesuit volunteer corps, JVC in Texas at the time. And he flew back.

and was there at my baptism. And then we were married a year and a quarter later. Lots of sacraments in that mission church.

Fr Jon Meyer (35:28.309)

you

such a beautiful story. And what I hear over and over again is your readiness to receive. And maybe that's juxtaposed to being tired of what you were receiving, whether it was because of the death of your grandfather or the divorce of your parents, attempted divorce, and then eventual divorce.

And then everything in between that just was weighing you down. well, I mean, what a beautiful spirit, Lindy, that, that you have that could open up and recognize in the Lord something utterly different, utterly new, maybe, utterly, you know, more stable, better in terms of, you know, cause

God's goodness and the purity of His love. And you said yes to that. And I hold out that, I mean, not maybe so much your story, but at least in our own experiences, how we can come to God anew. I'm not saying these are the only ways to do it, but it's often

you know, I, because of, of, of a readiness for change, or maybe we're, we're tired of, what we've been hanging onto. And, know, it's kind of like, again, using the, image of Easter that something is dying and that needs to be let go of. And, and of course the letting go part is hard. And sometimes we, hang onto things that the Lord isn't asking us to.

Fr Jon Meyer (37:28.853)

So that willingness to receive is such a great testimony for us and you even for myself as I've been

Fr Jon Meyer (37:41.673)

working on receiving the gratuity of God and not feeling that need to earn it. I can't help but think that this is kind of a common thing for lot of cradle Catholics. Not everybody, but that whether it was explicitly said or not, the attitude of pray, pay, and obey was what kind of defined a good Catholic.

Lindy Wynne (37:52.322)

you

Fr Jon Meyer (38:10.197)

it's in those are all not those aren't bad things. But it's also missing out on the the heart of God, you know, and as you were quoting from john 15, like remaining in his love remaining in the heart of God. And it is there that we're able to receive the joy and with the hope that the joy will be complete in him.

Wow, such a... I don't think either of us knew exactly where this conversation was gonna go, but I think that's something really to hold out, think, to everyone in this Easter season. And to recognize how receptive we are to God, or maybe how resistant we are to God. And then on the other side, to be aware of

like the gift that God wants to give us, that He's not waiting for us to be, sometimes not even waiting for us to be ready. It's not like grace comes and it sounds like, I don't know if you resonate with this, but grace comes as it does. And so even though we cooperate with grace and we participate in that activity of God insofar as we let Him in,

We also, going back to your story of even of your daughter, that waiting period obviously means that grace didn't come as you demanded it. And so, yeah, in this Easter season to...

I don't know, be okay with the waiting to be okay in where God has us and in the midst of, you know, whether it's a good season of life or maybe a darker, a more seasonful of the cross, that the joy of God, the presence of God, the power of God, the grace of God can still find its way and

Lindy Wynne (40:23.049)

Okay.

Fr Jon Meyer (40:30.811)

enlighten us in such a way not because again we're deserving but because through Jesus's resurrection we have this opportunity to enter into new life.

Lindy Wynne (40:42.744)

Yes, and I would love to add to that from my own experience, Father Jon, and please correct me if I am wrong, is that in Malachi 3.6, the Lord says that the Lord is unchanging. God never changes. And why I'm bringing that up is because for me, that grace is ever-present.

Like I can choose to.

Lindy Wynne (41:16.682)

I can choose to go to the inner rim of my heart in whichever way I physically can in a given moment or a period in time and be with God to by the grace of God navigate close to him whatever's unfolding in my life and still receive the gift of Easter joy. So meaning

God's grace is a gift and we have no control over that. It's just God is also generous. That's also in scripture. So in my experience, God's generosity is also unchanging. And you talked about the gratuity, Father Jon. And so I bring that up because when, for me, when I look back and I think of all of the different seasons and moments and days in my life,

Joy was always available to me. The completeness of joy was always available to me, regardless of what I was navigating or what was unfolding in my life or my feelings, is that God was always showing up and that is the joy. That is the joy for me because...

Lindy Wynne (42:48.136)

I knew what it was like before I encountered God and I remember that and after and Father Don you said something that I wish I could remember exactly what you said but what it made me think of was like the revelation of joy I also saw in other human beings and adults and I've said this before and I think this is so important for all of us here gathered is that

Your receptivity, my receptivity, our receptivity to God's love and God's joy, God's goodness really matters because the children are watching and other humans are watching and I was that child and I watched. And so I saw certain people that God's joy was complete in them. I saw, I witnessed the completeness of God's joy.

And now I'm totally going to cry because I am going. And by the time this is released, I will have already gone to go visit my precious senior year math teacher, Mr. Bond Traker, who I've told you all about many times. And he's been a guest in the podcast. He was my in public school, my math teacher, my senior year, his final year before he retired. He is now in his early to mid nineties and he is starting to lose his memory.

So I am flying across the country to go see him one last time likely. And that's because when I was 18, 19 years old, I witnessed God's joy being complete in him. And this is why I believe too that my faith and my focus has to be fully on the Lord.

God's grace has to be sufficient for me rather than going to other places or people. Like that's a weakness in me. I'll want my needs to be met at times, not always in other people. And I've recognized that in myself. Like I want a firm foundation in other people, but like that's not God's design. That's not. And accepting that is so helpful and creates such freedom for joy. And the other thing that I want to share with you about this is that

Lindy Wynne (45:14.219)

The last time that I saw the priest who baptized me and married my husband and me, I realized is also losing his memory and I don't think he remembered us. And so here is someone that holds such a precious sacred space in place, both of them in my life and already or soon they won't remember me, but that's okay.

because I will remember them and the love of God that they revealed to me, the joy of God that they revealed to me. And hopefully I will carry that and follow those good human examples to ultimately follow the good shepherd and hopefully share that love so that even like some of you listening, you've had even parents that have lost their memories and

through Alzheimer's or dementia or other things, but that does not mean that that love isn't eternal because love itself is eternal God and it lasts always just like joy, the joy of Easter.

Fr Jon Meyer (46:27.827)

And that's where we have to understand joy not as just this feeling of...

what I'm thinking of.

Lindy Wynne (46:42.55)

You're like a temporary feeling or sentiment.

Fr Jon Meyer (46:42.613)

Yeah, yeah, euphoria. You know, we don't understand joy as a mere feeling of euphoria, as this deep...

Fr Jon Meyer (47:01.192)

spiritual emotion that touches and convicts us to trust in God. And this is where when Jesus says that my joy will be complete in us, that completion is never permanent until we're in heaven. so, on the one hand, we can grieve the loss

of memory and you know which I mean memory is such an important power that we possess. But even in you know especially for those who are taking care of people and you know for you who are going to visit Mr. Von von Tranker. Von Traeger. You be bond trade. Okay. All right.

Lindy Wynne (47:51.708)

Bontrager. B. Bon. B.

Fr Jon Meyer (47:59.391)

So you who are going to visit Mr. Bontrager can still enter into the joy in the present moment. You know, that even if he may or may not remember you or be able to draw from you that experience that you had with him all those years ago, and yet the presence of God is still there. And what a sacred moment and a beautiful task that, task is not the right word.

What a beautiful mission that you have been so touched by this man that you want to reciprocate love toward him by visiting him at least one more time.

Lindy Wynne (48:41.249)

I'm way more selfish than that, Father Jon. I want to go see him because I want to see him. I mean, I appreciate and I recognize that the feeling is mutual. Yet I know that I will regret if I do not go see him and spend time with him. And I know that he already knows the impact that he's had on my life and how much I love him. It's just

And time is fleeting on this earth and this goes to remembering this, remembering that it's up to our own free will and our choice of how we spend our time. And so for me, I feel very drawn to spend my time, hopefully by the grace of God, reflecting the sanctity of life and the gift of life and of each life.

So this is a life that has been profoundly meaningful to me and I want to revere that. I feel a great reverence to that and this is my way of revering his life.

Fr Jon Meyer (49:52.201)

Yeah. So I wouldn't say that's selfish if you're reverencing God in him because it was God in him that helped you in those moments all those years ago.

Lindy Wynne (50:10.086)

Yes, yes. Father Don, thank you so much. This has been such a blessing. Is there anything else that you want to share with listeners? I feel like you have the last two podcasts, Father Don. You have turned the table.

Fr Jon Meyer (50:26.739)

Yeah, well part of that too. I mean, your testimony is so awesome. I think maybe I'm also in a season of life where...

I mean, part of it is in the work that I do that I'm developing ways of being present to others and I'm sort of relearning how to be more present to myself. so, yeah, it's hard. And this is yet another kind of Easter theme to let that light of Christ, not that I'm always resistant to it, but...

Lindy Wynne (51:01.395)

.

Fr Jon Meyer (51:09.625)

just finding new ways of trying to access some of those wounds and those areas that not just need healing, they need redemption. They need new life. And it's coming. It's coming. yeah, the good news is I think maybe the Easter season will be extended if I am persistent with this work.

Lindy Wynne (51:23.724)

Yes, that deep redemption.

Ooh, I love that.

Lindy Wynne (51:38.051)

Yes, and I think for everyone listening, I think there are two invitations from the podcast. The first one is that attentiveness to how God is revealing God's self and God's joy, God's love, God's goodness each and every day. And like Father Jon said, he kind of added that to his examination of conscience at night. So that is a beautiful invitation. Another thing straight from my little Easter, my little one that I would invite us all into is

Like I said that she made lists of different names for the dog. She also makes lists for all kinds of things and it's super precious. Like my dad's been here visiting and she literally made a list for the week of everything we were gonna eat. And she has made us hot breakfast with eggs every single morning and then most of the dinners are smoothies. It's hilarious. And so that delights my heart. And then once she made a list of like,

if you make me these things, these are your rewards. So it was like, if you make me pancakes, you get three hugs. If you make me bacon. But it's really funny. So I'll take it. I find it delightful. I think it's hilarious. But one of the other things is that like in different seasons, we'll make a list.

Fr Jon Meyer (52:46.965)

It's a bit transactional though. Where's the gratuity?

Lindy Wynne (53:04.165)

of different things we're gonna do together and talking about being present, Father Jon, to oneself and others. So what I would encourage for everyone is to take time and prayer and ponder, maybe an adoration or in a silent place or space and make a list of all of the things that help you to experience the presence of God more fully because you're more present to his omnipresence and presence

to other people, to really create places and spaces. And I have to do this too, because in this last season of my life, it's not a lent thing. What I've really heard is, Lindy, slow your roll. That's from me, not from God. Slow your roll, Lindy. And so I've been doing that. And so even when my dad was here, one day I had all these things going on, but I was like, you know what? I'm going to change this schedule around and hey, pops.

You want to go grab a cup of coffee? It's like really, recognizing that my time with him, he's older, is finite too. And so really trying to treasure the time and be intentional. And so to open your heart concretely or your schedule concretely to these experiences, your time to these experiences so that God's Easter blessings can pour in, can pour in because you are...

receptive to God's gratuity. We are receptive to God's gratuity. So in that spirit in the Holy Spirit, Father Jon, can you please close us in prayer?

Fr Jon Meyer (54:36.157)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. I'm going to begin this prayer with a quote from St. Augustine's Confessions that really came to me as we recorded here.

Lindy Wynne (54:39.675)

Amen.

Fr Jon Meyer (54:50.909)

And this is his prayer to God.

and I burned for your peace. Father, in this Easter season, we praise and thank you from the depths of our hearts for redeeming us, for sending us salvation and in Jesus and through Jesus to be given a witness and a means by which we might be filled with joy, with an eternal joy and a hope, promise.

Lindy Wynne (55:33.504)

.

Fr Jon Meyer (55:50.175)

that our suffering will end. And I ask your blessing upon the listeners that in this season of joy, they might, especially in areas where they most need new life or maybe where they need healing and encouragement,

that the Sun that died and rose might be received with open hearts, and then there might be no area, no place of their life that they are not willing to give you access to,

We beg for your redemption and trust in your promise of hope in Jesus' name. Amen. Hallelujah.

Lindy Wynne (56:48.145)

Hallelujah, in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, amen. Thank you so much, Father Jon, and thank you for blessing us. Reach out anytime so Father Jon and I can pray for you. You can go to mamasenspirit.com to do that. And also please share from and review in wherever you listen or watch Mamas in Spirit with others and provide helpful life giving feedback if you're

able so that hopefully by the grace of God these many retreats and each one I feel like is a story of a soul can hopefully touch more hearts and lives. Can't wait to be together again next time. This is Lindy Nguyen with Mamas in Spirit. May God bless you and yours always.