Scripture for Your Inner Outcasts

Transcript

Speaker 1: Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices.

Speaker 2: Welcome back to Scripture for your inner outcasts. It's April 19th, 2026, the third Sunday of Easter. Today is a special Sunday episode of Scripture for your inner outcasts, as we are joined by both doctor Jerry Creed and Doctor Peter Malinowski, the co-founders of Souls and Hearts. They will be offering a joint reflection on today's readings.

Speaker 3: Doctor Jerry, so good to be back with you for what's become a habit now these Sundays together, going through the readings.

Speaker 1: Absolutely.

Speaker 3: Absolutely. I love it. Well, I, I've got something that sort of leapt out at me with the gospel today, and I just thought maybe I could share that if it seems right and good to, to get us going.

Speaker 1: By all means.

Speaker 3: So I'm. I was trying to imagine in my mind's eye how chaotic and confused the church was the fledgling little church, the apostles, the disciples, you know, right after the great trauma of the crucifixion. Like because that blew everybody's mind. Didn't weren't expecting that even though our Lord had tried to prepare them, they they did not expect that there was shock, trauma, like, and now there's this whole like trying to figure out what's going on. Because now there have been reports coming in that Jesus was no longer in the tomb. Like, what does that mean? And so I think about like when our parts are like, um, really, really stirred up when there's just a lot of confusion, a lot of, um, intensity, maybe some polarizations going on inside because there were, you know, factions, uh, about like, has Jesus really risen from the dead? We talked about that last week with Saint Thomas, you know, and this is long after the fact, you know, that that that was long after the fact, long after the first day, right? This is the first day. This is this is Easter. And, um, and what was striking to me is the parallel between how limited the vision was of these two disciples, um, Cleopas and his companion walking, uh, on their way to Emmaus. And they didn't see, they actually encountered Jesus and they didn't see him. And I think that can happen with our parts. Our parts can have encounters with Jesus and not even know it. But the really telling thing for Cleopas and his companion was that they were open to it. They were open to the experience of Jesus. They felt their hearts burning within them, even though they didn't know who he really was. And so I think that's often the state that parts of us can find themselves in, in our, in our, in our life of faith. Something's going on. Might not even recognize that this was grace or this was Jesus or this was the Holy Spirit or, or, or what was happening. And just curious about what you thought about that.

Speaker 1: No, I love that. Um, you know, in, in my book, litanies of the heart, I, I do mention this passage in Emmaus.

Speaker 3: You do.

Speaker 1: And, and I think that it's, there's an interesting, you know, counterpoint with Adam and Eve, right? When they eat from apple, their eyes are opened not in a good way. And now and that is kind of reversed here where these, these, um, disciples, I guess, uh, their eyes are opened. And what are they open to? They are open to the story. There is a story of Christ. That is the story of salvation. It was the story of the Israelites coming up from the Exodus. It's the story of Jesus. It's the story of each one of us, especially right now, looking at our exiles. And so when their eyes were opened, they got it. They got it that their story was linked to this greater, bigger story, and that it all came together and made sense to them suddenly. And I think that's what can happen for exiles because they are carrying wounds. They are carrying, um, shame possibly, or, you know, pain. They're carrying anger, possibly they're carrying all these woundedness and it has nowhere to go. And so the system's exiled it because it's too much. And here we have Christ saying, no, your brokenness, your, um, woundedness is the, is an essential piece of the story, but it's not the end of the story. Join the bigger story that your. Your suffering matters to Christ. Your suffering matters, and that you join in with the Eucharist. Like the Eucharist, the breaking of the bread. He. That's where they see him, and that's where they see their story. And that's where each one of our exiles can enter into the story. It's like unbelievably beautiful.

Speaker 3: Yeah. It's interesting because these were not two of the 12. These were maybe carrying out some business that just had to be attended to. Uh, you know, after the Sabbath, right. And Sunday morning and our Lord again approaches them in relationship, in relationship. And he's, he's kind of so attuned to what they can take in. He doesn't overwhelm them. He doesn't, um, flood them. He meets them where they are. He gives them the, um, the, the information and the, the relational connection that they need. And then they, they come to an understanding in the breaking of the bread.

Speaker 1: Well, right. Well they, they were downcast. Right. They thought they all their hopes had been dashed. And now they're heading, you know, they gone presumably to Jerusalem because they were expecting to be part of this big grand story. And now they're going, uh, we had it all wrong, I guess. And and so Jesus shows up for them and, and tells them no. Right. Um, no, this is the real story. And so they have their eyes are opening. That's so perfect because sometimes, you know, we've talked about seeing with spiritual eyes, suddenly they're seeing with new eyes that see what they didn't see before. Um, you know, even here when they say like, they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. I mean, you know, um, there's just this opening up of the the whole story, the beginning with Moses, the prophets. He interpreted everything like, like all of a sudden, aha, it makes sense. And once our parts, especially our exiles, realize that they're ready to come home.

Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, this is this is really for your exiles realizing that this awareness of the resurrection and its implications, and the fact that this wasn't a complete and utter abject failure, but in fact, you know, the, the, uh, the opening to glory, like this is how it can be for you to like to come as, as you said, doctor Jerry, to come and join the story. And there's also a message here for spiritual managers, right. That might be tempted to keep the exiles out of the spiritual life, out of the connections, because of fear that the exiles are not acceptable or not lovable to Christ. You know, our Lord sort these two out. As they were walking away, as they were going back to a town that wasn't very big. You know that these were not like the key players in like, this isn't Peter, this wasn't Andrew. This, these weren't the most major apostles. These were maybe a little more marginalized figures. And he chooses to give them this incredible role of announcing, you know, the resurrection back to the apostles. That's like classic Jesus right there, you know?

Speaker 1: Well, because they're us, right?

Speaker 3: Yeah. Because they're us. Yeah. Mary Magdalene, you know, was the first well that we've heard of, right? There's some belief that, you know, that our Lord appeared to his mother first. But that's not recorded in the gospel. Um, but yeah, Mary Magdalene and, you know, and when, uh, when Peter and John run to the tomb to go, look, they don't, they don't see right away. You know, sometimes God wants to use parts of us. God wants to include sometimes God wants to include parts of us in this really amazing way. And we need to be open because his ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our our thoughts, right? So he can surprise us.

Speaker 1: Mhm. Yeah. Well, I think that the Responsorial Psalm, I think it's the third, third one, maybe where it says, therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices my body too. I love that my body confidence because you will not abandon my soul. We could even see my parts. And in particular, our exile to the netherworld. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Nor will I suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption like. In other words, he cares about our exiles.

Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. And that's all from Psalm 16. So. So yeah, there is reason to be hopeful, to be confident. And again, it's another lesson for us. I just think across our parts, innermost self to just some humility and to trust in the word of our God and not just to rely on our particular perceptions, you know, especially when, you know, parts might not be well integrated or they might not be connected with, you know, with what's been revealed. And, you know, especially in an experiential way yet, like have that faith that he keeps his promises.

Speaker 1: Mhm.

Speaker 3: Beautiful. Well, it has been such a pleasure to be with you on this one. And again, I don't know that we said this last couple of weeks, but I want to say it now because it's still the season. Happy Easter to you. Doctor Jerry. Ah, yes!

Speaker 1: He is risen!

Speaker 3: He is risen!

Speaker 1: Yes, there is indeed. He is risen.

Speaker 3: Indeed he is risen! Is that a. Where's that from, by the way? Because I know you've said that to me before, but I've not.

Speaker 1: Oh, it's the Byzantine greeting.

Speaker 3: The Byzantine greeting. So how does it go again? Because I want to get it right.

Speaker 1: Yeah. You just when you meet somebody randomly, you just go, he is risen. And then the person just simply responds, indeed he is risen.

Speaker 3: Indeed he is risen.

Speaker 1: All right. It's just like a greeting.

Speaker 3: All right, I love it. I will remember that.

Speaker 2: Listeners can find more content from doctor Jerry Crete, including a link to his book, The Litanies of the heart and the description of today's show. Thanks for joining us, and we hope to see you again tomorrow.

Speaker 3: Our lady, our mother, Untier of knots. Pray for us, Saint Joseph.

Speaker 1: Pray for us.

Speaker 3: Saint John the Baptist.

Speaker 1: Pray for us.