EP 9 | Fr. Lazarus Yassa: LA Riots, Dealing with Despair, Loving God & Finding Christ in Pain - The Salt Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to the Salt podcast. We're on episode 7 now, which is
a great milestone. And seven is also the amount of
years that Simon has been looking for love, isn't that
right? Did not get that one on guard
but sure, yes. Well, I'm Georgia Skander and as
always joining me, my handsome Co host Simon Thomas Gilto.

(00:22):
Today we're very honoured to have our next guest, which is
Father Lazarus Yasser. He's from Christ the Good
Shepherd Church, American CopticOrthodox Church in Long Beach,
CA. Now Father Lazarus isn't just
any priest, He's someone who hasa really strong love for Christ
and for people and for the truth, really shines through
everything he does. And he's a real voice of clarity

(00:45):
in a confused world. So we actually came across
Father Lazarus on Instagram, actually was on the Orthodox
Spirit podcast. And I want to shout out to Mike
Mack, the host for having a really amazing program.
We'll add his link in the bio ofthe of of this episode.
And he also connected us with Father Lads.
So I really appreciate that. Thank you Mac Attack.

(01:08):
And let me say, every time that I've heard Father Lazarus speak
on Instagram, it's always been very profound.
And it's something I've always left saying like, wow, like I
really needed to hear that. So today we're diving into his
story, his early life, his call to priesthood, spiritual
struggles we all go through, andhow we can remain faithful to

(01:28):
Christ in a world that is constantly trying to pull us
away. So from California to your
screen, please welcome to the Salt Podcast, the very wise, the
very humble Father Lazarus Yasser.
Thank you so much for having me.God bless you guys.
Thank you very much. You know, before we get into it,
I know LA is in a bit of ruins at the moment.

(01:49):
We've seen a lot of stuff on thenews with riots and and things
going on. So firstly, are you in a safe
area and what's the situation like right now?
It's really tough. Thankfully, we're not in the
heart of it, but it's affecting everyone.
And all we say is Lord have mercy and we pray for everyone.

(02:12):
You know, it's, it's scary. I, I, I see both sides of this
issue and of course we never encourage anyone to to go out
and be unruly. Everyone has a chance and an
opportunity to voice their opinion, but we pray for the
safety safety of everyone and May God have mercy.

(02:37):
Yeah. So is it, is it safe where you
are at the moment or is it, are you like right?
On the yeah, thanks. Thank God we're not in the heart
of everything. It's, it's a little bit removed.
Long Beach is, I mean, most of the stuff is going on in
downtown LA, but there are pockets in other areas.
So I mean, there are freeways that are shut down that affect

(03:02):
everyone. Once 1 freeway shuts down or a
couple freeways shut down, it affects everything.
So yeah, we are. We're praying that that the
situation is resolved in a peaceful manner and people feel
safe and people feel heard. So the president actually called
the National Guard or something like that.

(03:22):
Isn't that right to kind of control the situation?
Has that helped? Yeah, escalated things.
I, I really don't know, to be honest.
It's, it's such a, a time that it's, I know, I think desperate
times calls for desperate measures, but at the same time,
there's a lot of people living in fear.

(03:43):
So it's a, it's a situation. We don't know when the end of
this is May God have mercy and May God save lives and protect
people. And I, I, you know, the fear is
also people that are trying to use this as a way to take
advantage of, use a situation totheir advantage.

(04:05):
That's that's another scary thing to add it to this.
Yeah, I've seen a lot of times when there's riots and things
like that, there's a lot of looting that happens and and
crime escalates because everyone's just in chaos.
So they just kind of take advantage of the situation.
So God willing, everything fixesup soon.
And you know, always when these things happen, we always think
that God does allows these things to allow us to get closer

(04:25):
to God or allow people to start searching for more answers.
So, you know, hopefully they search and they find the Salt
podcast and they TuneIn and theyand they listen.
Hopefully. Amen.
Now, thank you so much for joining us, Father.
I wanted to just slightly divertfrom this.
Obviously we pray for God's willwith what's happening with where

(04:46):
you are at the moment and with everyone around you.
I wanted to just slightly divertand ask you, you obviously live
in California. What is America like?
Because I, I personally haven't been there, but when we're doing
some research for this episode, I found out George has been
there. So I wanted to find out what is
it like? I've heard it's sort of the
Devil's playground in a sense. Well, LA is LA more, more so

(05:08):
than other places. That's my when I, when I went
and visited, I think back in 2013, it was on my honeymoon.
Yeah, LA was very different. I think it's a yeah.
It just felt different to other places in in the US that I
visited, especially going through Hollywood.
And it just, I just didn't feel very spiritual.

(05:28):
It felt very like maybe the voidof God or absence of God.
That's what I really felt in in that area, living there.
How do you say it or how do you feel?
I, I grew up in Southern California and, and thankfully,
you know, I was raised by two loving parents by God's grace.

(05:51):
And so even with everything, youknow, kind of working against
those who are really trying to live with Christ, you know, I
still, I still found Christ or Christ found me.
So honestly, though, I, you're right, there is of course, I

(06:13):
mean, being in the center of Hollywood and Hollywood having,
you know, a, a focus in a certain direction to lead people
away from God. We see that very clearly in so
many things that myself being coming from a, a journalist
background, journalism background.
So I, I saw it first hand, You know, if you're a Christian,

(06:37):
you're, it's kind of frowned upon, You know, I don't, I don't
remember people saying anything directly to me, but there would
be snarky remark remarks just tokind of get a reaction out of
me. And within I, I was working as a
journalist for about 3 years. So, you know, it was very clear

(06:57):
that this is not a place that I wanted to continue my career in.
And so thankfully God opened thedoor for priesthood.
But with that being said, I think it's, it highlights all
the more that people are hungry for Christ, cause a lot of
people are coming to Christ these days and a lot of people
are opening their eyes and seeing the darkness that's

(07:19):
behind so much. And so in this last, these last
couple of years, we baptized more people than I've ever
baptized in the prior 15 years to my my in my priesthood.
So I've been a priest now for almost 17 years.
So this last year and a half, two years more than all the 15
years prior. So it's pretty amazing.

(07:42):
I mean, it's a, it's a good viewpoint to take because I
mean, we look at it and we see alot of the bad, but I guess it's
that darkness sometimes that pushes people to go to the
light. Exactly.
Yeah. So I guess you touched on your
experience as a journalist and prior to recording, we actually
spoke to you a little bit about what that was like.

(08:03):
So if you can share with us whatit was like.
And me and Simon are big basketball fans and you've met
two of our icons that we we grewup watching and loving.
So can you please share with us a little bit about that?
And take your time with it. Yeah, yeah.
So I, I chose journalism initially because I wanted to be

(08:24):
rich and famous and, and I quickly learned that's kind of
the, the time in my life when I wasn't that close to God.
And, and so soon after my college experience, or towards
my end, my towards the end of mycollege experience, I, I ran

(08:46):
into Amba Musa, Bishop Musa, theBishop of the youth.
I, I know he's been probably to Australia, maybe not as much
now, but my era, he was coming every year.
And this man's joy changed my life.
You know, Pope Shunouda, I, I mentioned the story in another
one of the other podcasts, but Pope Shunouda was visiting our

(09:08):
church. And at that time again, I wasn't
really that close to church. And so my mom was like, you
know, you have to come. You have to see Pope Shinuti is
coming to our church. I was like, I don't feel like
going. She's like, no, you have to go.
How often does the Pope come to our church?
Right. So I went, and I don't remember
much of the meeting, but afterwards, this man, this
Bishop comes up to me and he hugs me like we're best friends.

(09:31):
And I'm like, who is this guy? I asked myself, is he somebody
that I met before that I forgot,or does he think I'm someone
else? And then just but, but the joy
that was in him, the love that was in him, it drew me to want
to find out who he is. And I wanted to know the source

(09:54):
of what he had that I didn't have, you know, So little by
little, I found out he's a Bishop and he's the Bishop of
the youth. And he comes to speaks.
He speaks at conventions and retreats.
So I went to one of these conventions and I heard him
speak. And it was, you know what?
I was been what I've been missing all my life.

(10:17):
He, he was speaking with purpose.
He was speaking with love. He was speaking with his
sincerity and truth. And it's something that I was
hungry for. And so I got closer and closer
to him as I started getting closer to him.
And then I started, and then I found a father confession by

(10:39):
God's grace, and I started to serve.
And service was kind of a turning point for me in my life,
especially serving the poor. That's always been something
that was very important to me. When you read the scriptures,
you realize that very quickly. And so I graduated college and I
was working as a journalist. I was working at the Channel 4

(11:01):
News local NBCLAI was working behind the scenes.
But my goal was to become a reporter on television.
And so I was building a demo reel of me, you know, of myself
on camera. And so you, you pay the
cameraman a little extra and they they'll spend some time to,

(11:23):
to film you doing the same storyas the reporter.
LA is such a big market, so you can't really get that job off
the bat. You know, you have to kind of
work your way up. Yeah, and so, but, but
thankfully with with being at NBC, which is a major news
network here in Southern California, I was able to go to

(11:44):
Laker practices. I interviewed check and Kobe.
That was a pretty cool experience.
You know, it was in the the timewhen they were winning their
championships and and that was afun time that, you know, we had
Mark Mattson and, you know, he did the funny dance when they
won the championship. It was really fun time when,
when LA was winning the three peat.

(12:06):
But with all of that being said,I was still, I was very
unfulfilled, extremely unfulfilled.
I, I felt like, no, there's, there's something more to life
And I, I don't want to spend therest of my life as a journalist
and being a Christian in, in the, in the media.
It's, it's difficult. Nobody really directly said

(12:30):
anything to me, but it was very clear that I was an outsider.
I was different. And there were very few other
Christians. Very few.
In a newsroom of a couple of 100people, I could count probably
on one hand people that were Christian or at least openly
Christian. So yeah, it was a little bit

(12:52):
hostile, but but I was desiring to serve God in some capacity.
And as you guys know, in our tradition, we don't choose a
life of service unless you're going to be a monk, which I had
been visiting the monastery quite often.
We have a monastery here in California and I had been
visiting the monastery while working as a journalist.

(13:14):
So almost on a bi weekly basis, I would go and visit the
monastery and spend a day or twothere.
And so in the back of my mind, Iwas thinking, well, I'm unhappy
in journalism and I love coming to the monastery.
Is God opening the door for monasticism for me?

(13:37):
And so that was a big question in my mind.
I did have a desire also to be married.
I mean, so I was kind of wrestling between the two.
And thankfully Amba Musa was still every year he would come
and and I, I became good friendswith Amba Musa because my name

(13:57):
before the priesthood was GeorgeYesa.
Beautiful. Name.
The title of God, by the way. Do you know that?
No, I didn't. The name George is the title of
God. So when the Lord said I am the
true vine and my father is the vine dresser, my father is the
Gorgios. Really.

(14:18):
Wow. The name, the title Vine dresser
or farmer and other translations, but vine dresser,
no. Farmer.
Yeah, it's George. Wow, I didn't know.
Yeah, George. That's gonna have to change his
contact now. So Simon, you gotta respect him
a little bit. Do you know what?
Solid maids or no? No one cares, Simon.
I don't know what Simon Jesus said.

(14:40):
Simon. Simon Peter?
Yeah, I don't know. That's right.
Peter. Peter was the rock.
Sorry, not even Simon. He actually got rid of Simon and
went with Peter anyway. Portal of God, OK?
So, so Amber Musa was coming every year and he his best
friend in Egypt was Gigas Yesa. So I was the Gigas Yesa or the
Georgiess of America, and he hada best friend.

(15:01):
So he remembered me and I, I, you know, every time I'd call
him, I'm the, I'm the Gurgus yes, of America.
So he remembered me. So I, I, I got really close to
Amba Musa and he became really like a father figure to me.
And, and so he would come and, and so as I was getting closer
to God and started to serve more, I said, say no, what does,

(15:22):
what does God want from me? You know, I'm, I'm unhappy in
this field, but I also had priests that were behind me
saying, you know, you need to bein the media.
We need a voice. You can, you know, some be
somewhat of a voice for the Coptic people, which were
already under represented. And so I was like, oh gosh, you

(15:42):
know, I have to do this for my people.
But I hated it. And sorry, father, I felt
unfulfilled. How old?
How old were you at this time? I I graduated college 21 and I
was working from until about 23212223.

(16:04):
And this was in the year from 2001 to about 2003.
Yeah, OK, perfect. Yeah.
So. So I I I was talking with Amber
Musa and I said, what does God want from me?
Does God want me to be married? Or does God want me to become a
monk? Does God want me to, to continue

(16:26):
in journalism or does God want me to do something else?
And this is what he told me. He said, pray, serve, get
married, get consecrated, you know, and it was prophetic.
I, I didn't really grasp what hewas saying at the time.
But soon afterwards, my contractat the local news channel and

(16:48):
NBC was ending. And so I had to find another
job. And I was, as I was telling you,
I was, I already had planned a, a demo reel and I was sent, I
sent that out all over and I hada interview in New York, upstate
New York, and also in Ohio. And so I was potentially going
to move and, and be an on air personality.

(17:10):
This is what I was working for. And so somehow, some way,
Ambassador Upion, the, the metropolitan of our diocese, he
found out that I was leaving. And so he, he asked to speak
with me and he said, you know, Iwould like to, I would like for

(17:30):
you to consider, to stay. And I said, well, I don't know
why. I mean, I, I didn't understand
why I said, but, but I'm, I'm going to be a reporter.
This is what I've been working for.
He said, no, why don't you stay and think about service?
I still didn't understand what you say.
He said maybe to be a priest oneday.
And it was shocking to me. It was as if that that hit me

(17:53):
with a ton of bricks because even though Amba Musa kind of
told me this and actually my momhad a dream of me as a baby that
I gave her communion, which is really interesting, it still, it
still wasn't really, it still wasn't something real for me.
And I, I told him, no, say no, you have the wrong person.
Like I'm not, this is not for me, you know, even though in my

(18:16):
heart I, I wanted to do something for God, but I, I
still till this day, I, I don't feel, I don't, I don't deserve.
And if you ask my wife and my kids, I'm sure they will tell
you. They made a mistake.
With me. You're giving us a lesson in
humility. No, no, thank God.

(18:38):
No. It's, it's something I don't
deserve. And it's been a big, big
blessing. It's a, it's a cross and a
resurrection at the same time. You know, there was a interview
with an Eastern Orthodox priest about, you know, how hard is it
to become a, how, how hard is itto be a priest?

(18:58):
And what he said it was like if it was perfect, it was exactly,
you know, he said you have to die.
You have to die. And many times it's very, very
difficult. You know, there's a there's a
fierce attack on all priests andall clergy, you know, because
strike the shepherd and the sheep was scatter.

(19:19):
So we really have to pray for our priests.
We have to pray for our shepherds and especially this
day and age where everything is publicized and everything is,
you know, out there and the council culture, you know, it's
like people are waiting for one one little wrong thing, not even
a major wrong thing, one little wrong thing.
And then all of a sudden, you know, let's cancel this person.

(19:42):
So, so say Itna, you know, approached me and, and then soon
after I met my soon to be wife and she's, she's my backbone.
She's the silent worker behind the scenes to allow me to, to
serve and try to do all my crazythings.

(20:02):
I have ADHD, so I have 1000 projects all at once.
And it's kind of a gift and a curse because my mind is all
over the place all the time. And at the same time though, I
I'm able to kind of juggle a lotof things by God's grace, so.
Thank God, my God, God gave us ablessed family, my wife, 22
girls and it's been a blessing. Beautiful.

(20:24):
So thank you for sharing that. That somewhat of a biography.
I didn't know much of that aboutyou, to be honest with you.
So you stated that you felt obviously unworthy when you got
the call to become a priest, andyou're saying that you still
feel unworthy. But from the outside, I can say
definitely not true. A lot of people do look up to
you. I want to ask a question though,

(20:45):
what were your expectations of priesthood at the start versus
the reality now that you're in it?
Have you felt much of a big difference?
That's a very interesting question.
You really can't have expectations for priesthood

(21:05):
because it's a whole new world. You're, you know, I was asked
one time somebody, somebody cameup to me and he said, you know
what I think, I think I want to be a priest.
I said, Habibi, that's wonderful.
Just I have to tell you one thing.
When you're ready to be a doormat for people to walk all

(21:29):
over you to come to Christ and clean their shoes on you, then
you're ready. He was taken aback.
And I'm saying that not with a abroken heart.
I'm saying that with all sincerity that that's what you
have to be if that's what it takes to get people to come to

(21:50):
Christ. And that's what it has to be.
That's beautiful. So, yeah, I didn't have
expectations. I I try not to because you can't
really prepare for something like that.
Yeah, thank you. But there's a big cross.

(22:13):
But there's also resurrection atthe same time.
You know, when we had some otherpriests, Father Elijah and
Father Anthony, it was interesting because they they
said, we asked them what's the hardest spiritual struggle
you've ever been through? And they said, as a priest, when
our, our, our children are far away from God, that is very hard

(22:34):
on them. And we asked them, what's the
greatest miracle you've ever experienced?
And we were thinking, you know, maybe an operation or, you know,
somebody getting killed or something like that from a crazy
illness. They said they both agreed
unanimously that the the best miracle is repentance,
witnessing repentance of their children because the change and

(22:56):
the joy to them, that's the biggest miracle they've
witnessed. So do you have any comments on
or share any similar thoughts? It's greater than raising
somebody from the dead. That's what it's really the
fathers have said. To see a Sinner come to Christ
is greater than raising someone from the dead.

(23:18):
It's greater than feeding the multitudes.
It's grading greater than walking on water to see someone
who was living away from Jesus Christ and embracing Christ and
wanting to change their life. That's what it's all about.
Absolutely wow. On a on a more happier, joyful

(23:39):
note, what's been the most rewarding part of your
priesthood? And what's also, if I can ask,
what's been the hardest part? You see God's hand in everything
if if you're if you're trying toserve and if you are trying to
sincerely serve him, you'll see God's hand in everything that's

(24:03):
it's so beautiful, even even in the in the heart, especially in
the hard times. You see God's hand with you.
He's he never leaves you. There is nothing in this world
like holding the body and blood of Christ in your hands.
Nothing. It's words can't describe it.

(24:25):
So that's the peak. And you know, I was speaking to
someone about the priesthood andhe said, Abuna, if you take all
the bad things you've experienced and all the tough
times that you experience as a priest, does it even compare

(24:46):
just even to one time holding the body and blood of Christ?
Would it would holding the body blood of Christ just one time in
your hands, is it worth it? I said absolutely.
There's not even a question. Absolutely worth it.
So that's the peak, Of course, as we were saying, seeing people
who were far away from Christ orreally broken or really down and

(25:11):
come to Christ beautiful. There's it's everything.
It makes everything worthwhile. You know, the hardest thing is
seeing people leave Christ and or people that that hate you

(25:34):
when they don't know how much you love them at what you're
trying to do is try to help them.
You know, of course, as priests,when we try to help people,
sometimes we will make mistakes or we'll, we'll come off a
little too strong or we'll call a little too much or, you know,
not be there in a way that we, the the person felt like they

(25:54):
needed that priest to be there. And there's that human element
to it, right? So, you know, you never want to
feel that you're a reason why somebody is not close to Christ.
Sometimes that that gets tossed around or, you know, that's said
about us. And you know, priests make

(26:17):
mistakes. Absolutely.
Did you ever feel at a time too overwhelmed and how did you get
through it? You know, I used to get
overwhelmed a lot, especially earlier in my priesthood.

(26:38):
But the last couple of years, even though I would say they've
been the most difficult years, it, it, it's, it feels like
God's hand is much more present and I've learned to completely
trust him in everything and submit everything.

(27:00):
And so it's, it's, it's very interesting, right?
I often say if, if I've what I've faced in these last couple
of years, if I faced it five years ago or 10 years ago.
I think I would have left the priest.
I hate to say that I don't. Maybe, maybe I'm speaking a
little too much here, but. Gosh, yeah, it's sometimes it's

(27:24):
really intense. But now, like you learn to
really trust God and, and I've always I've always seen Saint
Paul as the model for a servant,you know, on Saint Paul, nothing
like what we experienced. Compared to what Saint Paul
experienced? Not a fraction, not even a drop
in a bucket, right? At Saint Paul, you know, in the

(27:47):
Philippian jail after he was stripped naked and beaten and
bleeding and chained in the inner jail and he's praising
God. He's praising God and singing
with all his heart. I, I'm, I started to just in the

(28:09):
tiniest fraction started to understand, you know, there's a
sweetness in the suffering. Can I share a story with you of?
Course. Please this is a very
interesting story, kind of graphic.
When I was a kid, I, I was running and I fell on my front 2
teeth and, and so I went, we went to the dentist and 'cause

(28:36):
it was bleeding and I broke my 2front teeth.
And so they cosmetically fixed it.
But something internally happened where one of my, the
roots of my teeth, as we grow up, our roots close up, you
know, as you. And so one of the roots was
damaged and it never closed, which ended up causing a

(28:58):
terrible infection in the roof of my mouth and the top of one
of my teeth. I had no problems.
Usually if there's an infection,there would be one of the teeth
would get discolored. There was no discoloration.
It was strong, it was never loose.
So outwardly everything seemed fine.

(29:19):
You know, I, I brush regularly, but inwardly this, this
infection was taking place. And so over 20 years and then
one day I just get this immense pain in, in, in in my front
area, you know, in the gums on top of one of my front 2 teeth,

(29:40):
immense like crazy pain to the point I wanted to RIP the tooth
out. So I called a friend of mine who
who's who recently passed away. Unfortunately, he was a very
blessed, blessed servant. He was studying to be an oral
surgeon. He was in the middle of his
residency. I said, KIRO, please, I need to
do something. I'm going to RIP my tooth out.

(30:01):
I don't know what to do. So he's he took me to his dad's
office and he kind of, he did a little procedure to kind of
drain out a little bit of what the infection.
And then next day I went and I got X-rays and then it showed
something called a granuloma. And the dentist, when he saw the
this, the X-ray, he's like, Oh my goodness.

(30:23):
Like, that's sad when when a medical professional looks at
something goes, oh, Oh my gosh, he said.
This is a great. This is the biggest.
Granuloma I've ever seen in my life.
Granuloma is basically an infection that ate away my bone.
Like this was getting to like mysinus sinus area.
So it ate away a bunch of bone and it's like a 20 year

(30:44):
infection or something like that.
So I was like, what do we do? He's like, we, you have to
remove this and it has to be packed.
And so I didn't have dental insurance at the time.
So they were thankfully it was graciously, it was a, a dentist
who did, who helped out in, in removing this.
What he so it was because it wasa small little dental office, he

(31:06):
didn't have a anaesthesiologist that he was working with.
And so he tried to just numb it up with local, you know, local
injection and Nova came to kind of, you know, numb the area.
So how did he remove this granuloma?
He had to take a hot metal rod, singe it like it has to be

(31:27):
fiery. And he scraped it out and I felt
every bit of it, every I was, I was going to, I was about, I
needed to scream like. I was holding back.
And and he kept. He's, he's an Egyptian.
So he kept saying, I'm so sorry,Abuna.
I'm so sorry, Abuna. Cause the tears are just great.

(31:50):
It's it's like, imagine a hot metal rod in in your face, like
literally singing every bit of it was, it was immense.
Pain and I just he's like I haveto keep going deeper into the
infection is really bad. I said OK keep going.
What do I go? Can I do?
So in the middle of it, I don't know, I got this thought and I

(32:12):
said, what I'm feeling in this small part of my body, Jesus
felt from head to toe. And I said, Lord, you took that
pain for me. I'll take this pain for you.
And I don't know how to explain it, but the pain not only became

(32:35):
bearable, there was a sweetness in the pain.
There was a sweetness. There was something beautiful
that I felt in that pain 'cause I connected that pain somehow,
some way to Christ and His cross.
And so a Long story short, the the gist of this is that when

(33:00):
you are serving God and you try to serve Him faithfully, and
yes, you'll make mistakes, but He is so gracious.
And in the midst of those moments, sometimes when it's the
most difficult, you will find a sweetness in it because you know

(33:20):
you're doing this with Him and for Him.
You know, it's a very good perspective that you have, and I
think a lot of people benefit from that perspective because
rather than, you know, carrying your cross alone, you realize
that Christ is sharing. You're sharing with Christ, your
cross and that helps you get through it and helps you.
It's all about framing and perspective, I think.

(33:42):
And a lot of time we just put ourselves in the wrong
perspective. But when you and it's very hard,
of course, you know, it's a conversation I have with my wife
all the time. She's a bit of a warrior.
So I always tell her, you know, let's, let's learn from the
experiences that we've had. Like, you know, God always looks
after us. God always takes care of us.
Even if it's hard now, then it'sGod.
God allowed it for a reason and.Yes.

(34:03):
I, I think maybe it's easier formen to kind of just emotionally
detach and put the perspective in place.
But I think women, they're blessed with a lot of emotions.
So it's a bit, it's a bit more difficult.
But yeah, I love what you said and I.
I have something on that, pleasedo.
OK. I wasn't going to share it, but
I have to share it. Especially for married men.

(34:24):
So a couple days ago, as you know, I said something and I
upset my wife and you know, it was hurtful and I apologized and
you know it wasn't. Crazy, but it was like, you
know, perspective. We had difference of opinion and
I, I said, you know, like this is, you know, I, I just shared
my opinion kind of maybe in a way I shouldn't have, but it, it

(34:45):
took a toll on her. And then next day I was like,
you know, you know, why is it still bothering you?
I already said sorry, like, you know, you know, we need to get
out of this. We need to have faith in this.
And I was kind of saying that, you know, you know, and then
that night I had an immense painin my eye.
I woke up like with this immensepain, like, like there's sand in

(35:06):
my eye. So even closing my eye wasn't
even helping. So I, I, you know, go to the
bathroom, I'm trying to wash it out.
I'm trying to look, is there an eyelash in there?
I'm like, what's going on? I'm like God.
What's going on? And then the words echoed back
to me. Well, just say it's OK.
Just just bear it, right? Just have faith.

(35:27):
And I was. I felt like God was telling me.
Treat your wife like your eye. It's very delicate.
Be gentle. We don't tell.
Our eye just heal or just be better.
Just do this right. You know, so we need to give
honor to the wife as the weaker vessel.

(35:47):
Weaker not as a person, but in being delicate, being more
emotional, as God created the wife to be the nurturer, the
compassionate 1 you know. So guys, treat your wives like
your own eye. Be that sensitive.

(36:09):
Honestly, I'm, I'm very happy you shared that story because
you, you made me relate to you and to relate to other men
because I feel like all of us have that kind of situation
when, when if we upset our wives, we're just like, let's
just move on. You know, it's very simple for
us to, to like, OK, are we just going to keep being sad?
Let's you know, but you're, you're very right.
It's, it's different, I guess it's very different.

(36:29):
And I love that you shared that story.
Very different. Thank you.
I just learned it. So now that we got advice on how
to be a good husband, I want to just circle back to something
you were talking about. Always wanting, always having
faith. What would you say to someone
father who is constantly in a cycle of despair, where no

(36:52):
matter what they feel as though they're doing, life's just
always getting harder and harderand harder to speak?
Personally, George and I, since we've started this podcast, I
mean, I've spoken to George a little bit off camera.
Our lives have just gotten like harder and harder as the days go
by because I feel as though the devil's really trying to get in
the way of this podcast. And there's always so many

(37:14):
obstacles, but some people are not able to really try and
unlock their faith and feel as though they're stuck in a level
of despair. What would you say to someone
who has those feelings? Yeah, as we always say, despair
is the chief weapon of Satan. That's what he wants, right?
Sometimes, yes, the devil does attack.

(37:38):
And sometimes there are difficulties that are out of our
hands that befall us. But a lot of the times we put
ourselves in situations we shouldn't, right?
And maybe there's a lesson that's, you know, I need to
learn. Maybe I need to be a little
wiser or a little bit more patient or a little less

(38:03):
reactive. And then we realize, yeah, you
know what? I probably should have done
better. I'm not saying, you know, we
just because sometimes that willpush us in deeper despair,
right, If we need for just always kind of, you know, down
on ourselves. But you know, there's there's
always a lesson learned. Christ's arms are always open.

(38:29):
You know, the image that he leftus with is the crucifix.
When when you see a crucifix, you know who that is, right?
That's the image. God wanted us to recognize him
in with the most, you know, that, that that image with his
arms wide open, taking our shame, taking our taking the

(38:49):
blame upon himself. So that that speaks volumes.
And Abu Nabshoy Camel, the late Abu Nabshoy Camel, the Saint,
you know, that's why he often told those who confessed with
him to spend 5 to 10 minutes each day before Christ on the

(39:10):
cross. You know that image, if we
imprint that image in our heart always, it will save us from so
much. It will make us think twice when
we are tempted. It will help us when we are
down. It will lift us up when we when

(39:32):
we feel we can't carry anymore and we we see what he did for
us. You know, we remember that he's
welcoming us that he he paid theprice, you know, so I think
that's an encouraging sign and it it's the defeat of Satan,
right? Every time we see Christ on the
cross, we remember Satan and sinis defeated and he can give me

(39:54):
the strength to overcome. That's why in the Holy Week we
always say thine is the power ofthe glory.
Even though we see Christ in Hisweakest moments or what we see
as the weakest, we're declaring His power and glory more than
any other of time of the year. Right, because he's showing us
all of this because of his greatlove that he, he went through

(40:15):
this because of his great love for us.
So fight, despair, pray, pray and seek him.
Pray the Psalms Pope shooter hadthe famous quote, keep the
Psalms and the Psalms will keep you, right?
Be patient. There's always a grace.

(40:36):
There's always a grace awaiting every trial that befalls us.
Beautiful. So listening to you, Father, I
can say that you have a strong love and devotion for for
Christ. Can you share with us why do you
love God so much? What?
What moves you to love God so much?

(40:58):
He's the greatest lover you know.
We love him because he first loved us and all we do as we
answer the call to love. And when you recognize how much
he loves, you can't but love himback.
And the more you love him, the more you want to share that love

(41:21):
with everyone, right? Saint Augustine had a beautiful
quote. He said to search for God is the
greatest adventure to find God, the greatest achievement to love
God is the greatest romance. And you can go on and on with
that theme, right? To serve God, the greatest
fulfillment, to tell people of God to about God is the greatest

(41:46):
feeling to see people come to God is that, you know, you could
just keep going on and on and onand on.
Really there is no secret to loving God.
It's really, it's if we just open our heart just a little
bit. And then when you serve him,
you, you fall in love with him all the more because you see the

(42:07):
work he does, how merciful he is.
You know, people that you eat very easily could have been
written off, people that have, you know, should have been far
gone and how God calls them to him and they become great
servants and great lovers of God.

(42:27):
You know, he never ceases to amaze, you know, and again,
going back to kind of his passion, recognizing all that he
did, all that he, all that he sacrificed, all the suffering he
went through and still goes through.

(42:48):
Right when Saint Paul was torturing the Christians and was
inciting all this hatred towardsthem and wanting to drag them
off into prison and get them killed, you know, the Lord said,
Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
So he feels our pain in an immense way.

(43:09):
It's it, it really effects him. And the more you serve him, and
the more you love him, and the more you spend time with him,
the more you fall in love. What would you say to someone as
a first step towards God? If someone doesn't believe or
someone's watching this and they're on the fence about God,
and I mean they hear a lot of beautiful things, but they just

(43:30):
haven't had that experience, what would you say to them?
Yeah, keep searching, keep asking, keep seeking, keep
knocking. Open your heart.
Give him a chance. Read the read the word of God

(43:50):
and don't read it from a standpoint of scrutinizing it
necessarily. It's not.
I mean, you can, but read it with an open heart and an open
mind. No one lived like Jesus.
He, he has affected the whole world.
Every religion addresses Jesus in some way.

(44:13):
Everyone. You can't.
But you know, we're in the year 2025 because of Jesus Christ.
He divided time, you know. The Buddhists consider him as an
enlightened one, like the Buddha.
The Hindus consider him a God. The Muslims consider him as the
word of God and born of a virgin.

(44:34):
And he will come and judge, you know, Even atheists talk about
his teachings. So no one lived like him, no one
loved like him, no one served like him, and no one died like
him. You know, there was a street
preacher who was doing interviews with people on the

(44:57):
streets and he met an atheist. And he said, you know, I want to
read to you a passage to this atheist.
He said, I want to read to you apassage and I want you to tell
me who it is, who this passage is talking about it.
He said there was he was like a lamb led to the slaughter.
And as a sheep before its shearers, he he kept silent.

(45:20):
The punishment of the people wasplaced upon him by his whip
marks. We are healed.
You know, he, you know, and he read, you know, this chapter in
the Bible and he said, do you know who this is talking about?
He said, well, sounds like JesusChrist.
He said, yeah, there was. That's in Isaiah 53.
That was written 700 years before Christ.

(45:41):
And then he said, oh, that's, that's interesting.
But, you know, if I write something today, there's a
chance in 700 years it will be fulfilled.
He said, OK, good point. However, he said, can you think
of anyone else in human history that this prophecy, you know,
fulfills that person's life story?

(46:05):
He said, no, I can't. That's true.
You know, he came to die. He was born in the worst of
circumstances. He lived the poorest life, He
served and he loved, and his teachings are the greatest
teachings. So you have nothing to lose if
you give him a chance. And don't blame God for the

(46:29):
things, the bad things that people have done, even in the
name of God. Even people that represent God
don't blame him because those people, they have a strict
judgement. It says that in the Scriptures,
right? That the teachers will be judged
harsher and if someone LED someone astray, especially if

(46:50):
someone harmed the child, they will have the strictest,
strictest of punishments. So don't blame God for the
atrocities done in the name of God.
There are many, many good peoplewho really love God.
Look for those people, learn from those people.
Talk to those people, ask them why they love God, what they

(47:11):
have experienced with God, and take their perspective.
You named one very clear prophecy, but I believe there's
like over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament that all point
towards Christ. So I think yes, it was probably
Lee Strobel. I believe that in his case for
Christ, he, he calculated the probability of one man achieving

(47:32):
all these prophecies. And I think it was like 1 to
the, to the power of like 27 zeros or something like that.
One in one in that many. One guy who said if you just
take 14 prophecies and you have one person filling these 14
prophecies, it's like taking a silver dollar, which is a, you

(47:57):
know, a pretty decent sized coinand marking 1 silver dollar and
taking millions and millions andmillions of other silver dollars
and spreading the whole area of the size of Texas with the
silver dollars with 1 silver dollar marked.
And you give a person one chanceto pick that silver dollar out

(48:19):
of the that the billions that are there.
The probability of just one person fulfilling just 14
prophecies is 1 in that, you know, amount.
It was, it was something crazy like that.
Yeah. So that was just a few
prophecies. I feel like if I could say
these, I feel like you one of your love languages is

(48:41):
definitely acts of service also with your family and the
congregation. Because when George had shared
the news with with me that whereyou were going to join us for
the for an episode on the podcast, I told him that we have
to ask him about the clip that'sread like been going viral about
your experience with the homeless person.
Now, if some of the viewers who are watching this haven't heard,

(49:04):
would you be able to share a story similar to that or that
exact story? Sure.
Because. Yeah.
I prefer share different storiesbecause I have tons of these
stories. Very emotional.
Yeah, I'll share maybe two or three of these.
So there was one time we were serving at a homeless shelter

(49:26):
and this was prior to us purchasing our, our building
here. So we had a Bible study and you
know, we fed the people and we give out clothing.
And there was one homeless gentleman that was so touched
that he said, father, he was in a wheelchair and his, he was in

(49:48):
a desperate situation, like really bad shape.
And he said, father, I have a small life savings.
It's a few $100, but I want to give that to your church.
I know you're trying to buy a church and I'm going to give
that to you. I said absolutely not, I will
not take it. He said what he was like upset.

(50:11):
I said, no, I can't take it. You you need that.
You're in a situation where you know, you need some help right
now. And I, I, there's no way I'll
take it. And he looked at me dead in the
eye and he said, if you for one second think that if I give you
this little amount of money and think that God will not take

(50:32):
care of me, I'm sorry Sir, you're in the wrong business, I
said. OK.
I didn't end up seeing him again, but that really taught me
something. Of course, you know, the God is
taking care of everyone and if somebody's offering something,
you know, you take it. I still, sometimes it takes me a

(50:54):
few times to learn that lesson. Something happened just a few
months ago. We were walking in the streets.
So by God's grace, we serve every day now we serve the
homeless. We serve between about 110 meals
to 150 meals by God's grace. And I have a little story about
the miracle with that. But one time, excuse me, one

(51:15):
time we were serving meals and there was a a homeless lady and
she had a box of M&M's, packagedM&M's.
You guys have M&M? We love it all right.
Great. She had a box of M&M's, right?
And so she, she said to one of the servants that was, you know,
giving out the food, she said, oh, I want to offer this as an

(51:36):
offering. So I, I, I came quickly to her
and I told her, and I'll tell her we can't accept this.
You know, I didn't know if it was contaminated and all that,
you know, just my silly mind. And I was like, I'm sorry, I
can't. She said.
Father, come here right now, Shecalled.
Me over there, I was like, uh huh.
She said if I am offering something to God, you cannot

(51:59):
refuse. I said, oh, I'm sorry, it's just
a policy would have. She said if I am offering
something to God, you cannot refuse to take it.
Understood. I said yes, understood.
And we took it and we said thankyou, you are right.
And I told her you're right. She is right, you know, so

(52:20):
people when they offer, they're really offering out of their
love. They're offering everything that
they have. That's all she had, right?
She was trying to give to God, you know, in appreciation.
So she taught me a lesson Another another.
I have a lot of these stories, so I'll just kind of go through
some of these quickly. Another gentleman, he was also

(52:44):
homeless gentleman. So when we were starting our
service, we would have one week of a full liturgy because I was
still at another church and I was transitioning from that
church to this new service. So one week I would, I would
take a, a, a, a break away from that church and pray a full
liturgy in this homeless shelter.
We were renting a homeless shelter at the time we were

(53:04):
praying our first liturgies. And then the following week I
would pray the liturgy at my oldchurch and come and do a small
like the Liturgy of the Word where we give like, you know,
kind of the gospel reading of the day in a little sermon.
And so the week where we have the full liturgy, we'd have
Coptic families come and the week where we'd have just the
Liturgy of the word, it would bejust the homeless people.

(53:25):
So it'd be usually it would be Coptic families and homeless
people or just the homeless people that would come.
And so I did something wrong in the week that we had the, the,
the full liturgy, I would take out our donation boxes, OK.
And the week where it was just the homeless people, I wouldn't
take out the donation boxes because it was just being
homeless, right? So a homeless gentleman comes up

(53:47):
to me and said, father, something weird is happening.
And I said, yes, what happened? He said, one week I come, you
have the donation boxes out. And the next week I come, you
don't have them out and then youhave them out again and then you
don't have them again. Why did you do this?
And of course I was embarrassed to tell him.
I'm not going to tell him, you know.
Oh. We don't want to take because I
don't want to people, people to feel obligated, you know, And I

(54:10):
said, Oh yeah, we, we don't takethem out some weeks, he said.
But I want to, I want to donate.I'm telling you, he's homeless,
right? I said, oh, OK.
He said, so can you start takingthem out every week?
I said, yes, absolutely. I will, you know, so very
touching. And when they donate, they're
giving everything, everything they have.

(54:33):
Another homeless gentleman, he would actually take several
buses like 45 minutes away to get to our homeless service.
Every Saturday. We were serving and we would
have a meal and we'd eat together.
And then I, I found out that he was staying kind of in a shelter
45 minutes away. And we were talking and I said,

(54:54):
oh, you're coming from a very long distance.
We love that you come here. But do they not have like a
service like this where they give out meals and in other
places? He said, no, they do.
I said, oh, really? I said, like next to you.
He said, yeah, I said, oh, that's great, but forgive me to

(55:17):
ask the why did why do you come all the way out here?
He said, oh, over there they gave out meals.
But here, this is family. It's beautiful.
This is my family. It was so touching, so, so
touching. It was another time a gentleman.
This was this was kind of a hardone.
We were sitting down, we're talking and he started opening

(55:43):
up and he said, why did you talkto me today?
I don't remember if he was talking to me or somebody that
was next to me. I was sitting at the table and
he said this. The person said, oh, you know,
we're here because we, we love you.
And he said, no, tell me, why did you talk to me today?
He said, oh, because we, we, we see this as our family and we're

(56:04):
friends. He said if no one spoke to me
today, I was going to go home and kill myself.
Can you imagine that? So people are hungry for love,
people are hungry to be cared for, people are dying for

(56:25):
someone to acknowledge them. And we don't judge anyone.
I think that's part of the problem is sometimes we judge
and we say, you know, I've, I'veactually had a situation before
where I've, you know, I, I gave to somebody and then I saw them
go straight into the pub with the money.
And then I thought, am I, am I, am I aiding and abetting this

(56:45):
person in, in doing something wrong?
But I think the message that I, I asked my, my confession father
many times and, and they say, when the money leaves your
pocket, it's in God's hands. Like don't be worried, don't be
concerned about it. So there's always 2 schools of
thought. Some sometimes people say, you
know, maybe don't give to someone who is an addict and you

(57:06):
know you're going to support their addiction.
But then there are some people that say once it leaves your
pocket. And I think St.
Abraham had that philosophy likehe would just give even and,
and, and there were times where people would misuse it and you
know, God would actually act accordingly because they were
misusing it. So what?
What are your thoughts? You know, we should never judge

(57:30):
anyone. I'm in the school of thought if
you're asked to give and you have give, OK.
But I'm also, I also feel like, you know, if you can give food,
that's better. If you can, you know, provide a
blanket, you know, this is a lotof people and they ask and they

(57:53):
just are adamant. Like I'm, I'm really not
comfortable. I said, well, well, then come
and serve then. Then you should serve in another
capacity, you know, but I, I don't ever imagine that God will
ask us, why did you give to a person, you know, even if they
used it wrong. Now, if there are people that
are abusing like let's say sometimes it happens with family

(58:16):
members, right? Like a family member comes and
they'll, they'll keep asking formoney.
There's a situation, there's situations where I've told the
family like, no, we, we shouldn't give right.
At some point, like you point them to a shelter or you point
them to a rehab because. You feel like you're enabling
them. Yeah, so, so it's, it's not

(58:38):
just, you know, just without anykind of wisdom, but we should
never judge. We should always be pointing
people to the right direction. We should help in some manner.
It's not the easiest, I I know it's not the easiest.
So this seems to be a big part of your ministry because I

(59:01):
believe I looked up your church and there's actually a statue
outside called The Homeless Jesus.
Is that right? Yes.
So maybe we can pull it up on the screen and you can tell us a
little bit of the inspiration ofhaving this statue outside and
what it symbolizes to you. Yes, it's we love this.
It's it's a depiction of Christ on a park bench.

(59:24):
And you know, he said I was hungry and you gave me food.
I was thirsty and you gave me drink.
I was a stranger. You took me in.
I was naked, you clothed me. I was sick and in prison and you
visited me. And what you do to the least of
these, my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.
So every time we see this, everytime we see someone, we see that

(59:46):
that's Christ and the inspiration behind it.
There's a Canadian artist who had a similar depiction, but
the, the head, the face and the,the hand were, were not really
shown. And I wanted to even make it a
more clear picture that that's Christ.
So we had this one, you know, we, we, we commissioned this

(01:00:09):
one. And we have it right in the
front of our church. And many times people think it's
a real person sling down there. Yeah, it's such a big blessing.
And it's it it makes a person think we have a sign above it
where it says I was a stranger, you took me in.
So yeah, that's that's a big part of our ministry here.

(01:00:32):
I'm Bassarapian, the metropolitan of our diocese.
He approached me with the visionto have a service to serve the
community and specifically starting off with those who are
homeless. And it's been such a blessed and
fruitful service. By God's grace.
I'll, I'll share with you the story of how we started to serve

(01:00:55):
every day. And this was a miracle, a
miracle because I, I, I did couldn't add up math OK, so, and
you'll see this too often times in our mistakes.
God works in, in, in mysterious ways and and in miraculous ways.
So what ended up happening was there was a family, they were

(01:01:16):
running a restaurant and unfortunately they were laid off
and it was a husband and wife and they have three kids and A
and A and a Mother Mother. One of the mother parents
mothers was staying with them. So we had, I had been wanting
for a long time to, to serve on a daily basis because in the

(01:01:38):
book of Acts, it said that therewas a, a daily distribution.
So it's biblical. So I, I, I was praying for a
long time for this. And so we took an account, OK,
You know, you, this family can, can get a salary this much and,
and we can, we'll pay for you guys this much.

(01:02:01):
And we took that into account and our our finances were OK and
we said, OK, so we want you to cook food everyday.
I didn't take into account the cost of the food.
We took in account the the salary but not the cost of the
food so. At the end of the month the the

(01:02:21):
gentleman came up to me and he said when I just have to I want
to share something with you. So thank you for the salary, but
the plate that we make, so we usually offer a protein like a
chicken or, or, or meat and a grain or pasta, a salad and a
drink, and sometimes we even give fruit and a dessert.

(01:02:43):
All right, so minimum, minimum you're going to pay for a meal
like this $15.00 US right? And we serve between 110 to 150
people a day. So let's say we'll say $10 per

(01:03:03):
plate, and instead of 150, we'llsay just 100 people. 100 * 10
equals $1000 * 30. $30,000 I didn't take that into account,
the cost of the food, I took theside.

(01:03:25):
So when he added it up, he said Abuna.
But this is what we end up have to pay for the month of the top,
the expenses on top of the salary.
It was like $780. How?
I don't know, God allowed a restaurant to donate here and a
pizza place to donate from here.And then we have a food bank,

(01:03:47):
and we take a little bit from the food bank and this and this
and mix and match it, and we make a nice meal for 120 to 150
people per day for every day. By God's grace.
It's really miraculous. Well, it's the five loaves and

(01:04:08):
two fish. 100%. From 30,000 to 780 it's nothing
short of. That's God's math for us.
So actually I want to shift gears a little bit because I
know after you worked as a journalist, you actually worked
as a mental health clinician andalso have a master's degree in
clinical psychology with emphasis on marriage and family.

(01:04:29):
So you can tell us a little bit about that.
And can you give us any experiences and learnings from
from that kind of working space?Yes.
So when saying approached me after I finished, after I
decided on not continuing as a journalist, I wanted to get
something to help me a little bit in the service.
And so I studied psychology. It was a blessing because my

(01:04:52):
wife was accepted to medical school.
And so we had to move out of South Southern California.
We went to New Jersey for a couple of years and that gave me
a chance to work as a mental health clinician in New Jersey.
It was a very difficult, I, I, Iwas working in kind of a prison
system that was somewhat difficult.
And then I, I was also working at a school.

(01:05:15):
Thankfully, God opened that doorfor me.
I was, I didn't have to be licensed in New Jersey in order
to work as a therapist. So that really helped out a lot.
Thank God. And you know, it helps in the
service when when you see peoplethat are suffering through
different things and, and sometimes you see that there is
maybe something biological or you know, something

(01:05:39):
psychological that's going on. And so you kind of get that
perspective, but I try not to rely too much on my psychology
background in the service because you also don't want to
label people. And as a master's level
clinician, you, you're not really set to, to kind of
diagnose people. You can kind of see there might

(01:06:01):
be something there, but you, youcan't, you know, you're not able
to diagnose, but at the very least you, you point people, you
know, you can advise people and say, you know, you might need
some, some, a medical professional to kind of seek
some advice and to address this issue in your life.

(01:06:22):
So there's, there's a blessing in that.
My father-in-law, he's a treasure.
His name is Doctor Nabil Beti. I'm not sure if you guys know
him. Doctor Nabil is kind of a living
legend. Sorry.
There's a little fly buzzing around.
He's a, he's the Pope's uncle and he was a neurologist and God

(01:06:46):
allowed him to, to suffer. He has a, he has a cross.
He, he lost his vision, but, buthe has the greatest spiritual
vision of some, you know, some of the greatest spiritual vision
that I've ever come across. And he's a faithful servant And
he, he's worked as a like he studied pastoral counselling

(01:07:06):
actually, after he lost his vision and, and he's done a lot.
He, he's literally written the book on marriage.
There's a book in Arabic. It should be translated into
English, but it's marriage in the Coptic Orthodox tradition.
Quotations from the father's hisown expertise.

(01:07:29):
He's brilliant. He has a PhD.
He was an MD as, as I was sharing with you, very spiritual
man. And God has blessed a lot.
God blessed us a lot with him and I'm literally popes would
call on him for advice. He's counselled thousands and
thousands of couples. He's, you know, so he's, he's

(01:07:51):
always a treasure to kind of go back to and, and get advice from
so. So what was the best?
Advice. You look up his name, the best
advice this always this is always sticks out to me.
He said to have a successful marriage today you have to walk

(01:08:11):
on water, which sounds impossible, right?
You have. To You have to be married to get
it. You have to be married to get
it. But but to, to, Yeah, but you he
said the only way to have a successful marriage is if you
keep your eyes focused on Christ.
You know, that's, that's the analogy, right?
When Saint Peter kept his eyes focused on Christ, then you'll
be able to walk on the water andcome to Christ, 'cause there's

(01:08:33):
going to be storms, you know, it's going to feel like you're,
you're drowning. But the second you take your
eyes off of Christ, you will, you will drown.
So he compares it to walking on water.
Because really, we see, we see the attack on the family this
day more than ever. It's very comforting to hear

(01:08:55):
father someone that's not married yet.
It's possible, though. It's possible.
After I speak with your father-in-law, definitely that's
going to be the case. Speaking of which, Buna, maybe
after the segment you can directSimon.
We've been trying to set him up for a while now, so I don't
know, maybe if you have any niceLA girls or Simon.

(01:09:19):
Father Don, please, I want to ask you a question.
Definitely pray and you're more than welcome to come and visit
us anytime, have you? I'll serve.
I'll serve with you in the homeless.
I don't know about for trying tofind a wife there, but God's
will is amazing. I would ask you a question
though. If you could sit with God and
ask him one question, what wouldit be?

(01:09:40):
Any. Question with God and I ask him,
I sit with God every day and I ask him questions.
I, I feel I, I, I hear him, I hear him and I, we can sit with
God and ask him questions every day.
We actually, we not, we can, we have to, you know, we have the
scriptures in our hands. We have our Father's confessions

(01:10:01):
and we can hear God's voice. He's speaking to us in nature.
He the heavens declare the gloryof God.
He speaks to us through children.
He speaks through us through thehomeless.
He speaks to us through through service.
I hear him in you. So we can we ask God all the
time and we can, we can hear himall the time.
It's up to me, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.

(01:10:27):
So yes, there is secret knowledge.
There's secret things that we can, we want to know, of course,
right. But no, I, I, I really believe,
I really what I said to you, I'm, it's not theoretical.
I I sit with him every day and Italk to him and I, I hear him
true. Blessing.

(01:10:47):
So when it's all said and done and you stand before God, what
do you hope He says to you? Well done, good and faithful
servant. You have been faithful over a
few things. I wish.
I hope one day I hear that. Pray for me that I do.

(01:11:09):
He hit the spot for. You, he father legend has his
unique ability from God to make you feel emotional.
I'm the least emotional person but when I hear you speak I just
sometimes emotion overbears me. So thank you, I guess.
Glory to God. Glory to God.
Glory to God. I want to I want to ask you one
final question that we ask all of our guests.

(01:11:32):
What does it mean to be the saltof the earth in today's world?
Salt of the earth used to throw the salt on the ground.
Salt preserves. Salt gifts, flavor, but you have

(01:11:53):
to be thrown on the ground. So we need to be humble.
Remember that there are many people that are very broken.
We have to be gentle. And as I'm saying this to you,
I'm, I'm reminding myself because I, I need to hear these

(01:12:16):
words myself. Humble and gentle and loving.
We have to remember that, wow, you know, salt was thrown on the
ground. So which is who is the one
that's using us to be thrown is God's hands.

(01:12:36):
You know, Jesus is the one. He's the sower.
So I always think about that, you know, that the goal of the
being, you know, the story of the sower and the seed, the goal
is not just to be the good ground, but eventually the goal
is to be the seed. You know that, that we are a

(01:12:58):
living gospel, that God uses us.And just like the Lord said
about the seed, it said unless agrain of wheat or a seed goes
into the ground and dies, it remains alone.
But when it it dies, it producesmuch grain.
So we can be in God's hands and we can be used by God in a very

(01:13:23):
unique and special way if we allow him to, to help others, to
bring others to him, to support others carrying their cross,
which is a very the best cross when you can help others carry
their cross and bring them closer to Christ.
And remember, it's all about him.

(01:13:44):
So hopefully that answers your question.
Beautiful. I don't know why Simon summed up
the episode. I want to keep talking to you
actually. So he jumped the gun.
But I I think we still have somemore time.
So if we can ask you some more questions, father, because you
know, we're we're learning a lotfrom you and we're we're so glad
that we have you with us. What I'd like to ask you maybe

(01:14:07):
on more of a personal question. What's one of your biggest
struggles that you've had to go through and how did you come out
the other side so people can learn?
I will have to actually this will probably be my last one
because I do have to get going in a little bit, OK.
No problem. You know, the biggest struggles,

(01:14:36):
there's things I can't share, just family situations and and
there's things that we see in the service too, of course, like
as I've seen before, seeing people who who leave Christ.
Oh, another thing is the division in Christianity.

(01:14:59):
This is this has got to be something on in the back of
everybody's mind as they feel itin their heart.
You know, yes, like some of the,I would say very healable
divisions like within the with the Eastern Orthodox and us.
Yes, I feel it's very healable. Well, semantics basically.
But to see some of well. Politics and semantics.

(01:15:23):
Maybe it's just from my understanding.
It's just the way we understand two different words.
I, I, I, I don't know, maybe, but but I, I do believe it's
healable either way. And I'll say this, if we're not

(01:15:45):
praying for the unity and if we don't see the prayer in John 17
as a model for us to pray, then we're really missing out and
we're really not seeing things in the right way.
And it takes, it's going to takehumility and love and really

(01:16:06):
sitting at the table. I mean, the church when it was
divided in 431 after the Councilof Ephesus, you know, it was 2
years that we were split apart from the Antiochine, the, the
Church of Antioch. And because they sided with
Nestorius initially and for two years we felt it.
I mean, that was just two years.And then there was something

(01:16:28):
called the formula of reunion, right?
If you read this formula of reunion, the, the, the opening
lines, it's like, let the heavens rejoice, you know, like
it really highlighted that therewas a division in God's body and
there was a deep pain for all ofus.
That was just two years. Imagine the 1600 year division,

(01:16:53):
you know, 1600 years. And, and if we don't feel the
pain in that and there's something wrong, you know, and
it sometimes we've, we, it feelslike sometimes people are not
only wanting to keep this division, but are seeking every

(01:17:14):
way they can to highlight the differences in trying to put
down the other. Is it semantics?
Is it politics? I'm sure that played up a role.
Could there be something theologically that's part of it?
Theological could be, yes. But I I do feel that there was a

(01:17:39):
lot of work done in the 90s to get us to eventually unite and I
do have to go. No.
Problem. But we need to pray.
We need to pray. Thank you so much.
God bless you guys. Very big blessing having you and
we just one. 2nd. We look forward to doing this

(01:18:00):
with you again very soon. God bless you in charge for us.
Prayer for us. Keep us in your prayers.
God be with you, see you.

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EP 9 | Fr. Lazarus Yassa: LA Riots, Dealing with Despair, Loving God & Finding Christ in Pain

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}EP 9 | Fr. Lazarus Yassa: LA Riots, Dealing with Despair, Loving God & Finding Christ in Pain