DAY 2 NOVEMBER 23, 2024
Votive Mass in Honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Witness Talk
By Celebrant:
REV. FR. BOB McCONAGHY
Good Morning, Everyone.
I’d like to express my gratitude to Bro. Randy Borromeo who was the CEO of FEASTCON, and Bro. Bo Sanchez for kindly inviting me to be the celebrant at Mass this morning.
A few weeks ago, I called Bro. Bo and I said I would not be giving the Homily.
I am going to be giving a Witness Talk.
You see, Pope Francis said to us priests, every now and then, especially when it is most important: “It would be good for you to take people into your life, and share with them, so we can see that we’re all in this together.”
We’re all on our way. It’s not like we priests made it and all you have to do is to listen to us and you’ll make it.
Or rather, he said to witness Let There Be Light. We cannot really truly appreciate the power of that Light — which is Love– until we’d been in the darkness. If you would allow me this morning, I would like to take you into my darkness.
Accident!
Six weeks ago, I was going to an ophthalmologist–
I can’t read too well, I have big cataract here and there. And a friend took me in her van to go to the ophthalmologist at the Cardinal Santos Memorial Hospital. So, I was at the second row, behind the passenger seat.
Suddenly– I wasn’t paying attention– she had to put on the brake, and I got slammed on the front seat, and then on to my back. It was extremely painful.
But I got back to the seminary, and the pain was so bad, I couldn’t walk, they had to call an ambulance, took me to a hospital, and long story short, I was there for six nights. They told me that I had congested heart failure.
But my cardiologist said, “We could fix that with a new pacemaker.”
So, after six nights in the hospital, I got back to the seminary, from the hospital bed to my own bed, fell asleep quite easily.
About 2:00 a.m., I woke up with chest pains. I hadn’t experienced chest pains in 27 years. And I sprayed my nitrogen– supposed to open up the arteries– but it didn’t work. So, they called Nico, my driver, rushed me to the hospital, got me into the ER…
Five minutes later, the pain really got bad, so bad, they had to give me IV Morphine– but still the pain would not subside.
Prayer
And so, I said a prayer with Nico, my driver, and I remember it was a prayer like, “Please, God, let me get through this, 50th anniversary is coming up in February…”
So, there was my asking.
Then, a few minutes after– because the pain started to subside– I said to the doctor, “Doctor, did I have a heart attack?”
And he looked me right in the eye, and he said, “You’re having one right now.” Ah-huh… I didn’t pray a prayer of petition. I knew, absolutely knew,
that probably — because the pain was so bad– that the next two minutes, I would probably be going to die. I knew it.
I should have been very scared — but I wasn’t scared. I didn’t pray either.
I just said, deep in my soul, “Okay.”
I didn’t die– obviously. They took me to the Intensive Care Unit, and there
I would have to stay for 24 hours for what they call an echocardiogram. And that was to assess the damage to my heart.
Diaper… and Diagnosis
I talked to my nurse, “They said I am having a heart attack.”
She said, “Fr. Bob, I have to tell you a couple of things. If you have some damage in your heart, you have to stay away from stress at all cost.
More than likely, it would not be a good idea, if you’d hear Confessions at The Feast (which is my favorite thing to do), you’re not probably be able to walk too far, you may have to use a wheelchair sometime. During the Entrance Procession, just come out from the side and go on to the altar…”
So, there I was, all by myself.
And then, these two guys came in and said, “Father, you know we’re gonna have to put you a diaper.”
I’ve been in Intensive Care Unit many times ministering to patients, but I never knew this!
That wasn’t too bad. So, I said, “Okay, fine.”
About ten minutes after, in came four young Filipina nurses. I thought they came to visit and cheer me up. But no.
They said, “We’re here to change your diaper.” I said, “Oh, no, no… You’re kidding, right?”
Here I am, a celibate– even one woman hasn’t seen me naked. Now four were gonna see me naked?
So, I just closed my eyes– and it took them about 15 minutes… They pulled me to one side, and then lay me on my back again…
Then, I opened my eyes, they were all smiles and they said, “We do this every day. Nothing to worry about.”
But I bet they had some good chismis when they left.
At any rate, now I’m going to be there for several hours, I would sleep, but it was kind of damp, so I said, “Lord, whatever it is, however you want to use me, okay.”
But I really, kind of, was really down.
At 4 a.m., the cardiologist came in, and he said, “We have the results of your echocardiogram. When you came in the first time, when you had an accident in the van, we took a cardiogram, all the chemistry and everything we saw in the EKG (or electrocardiogram, a test that measures the electrical activity of the heart) absolutely said you were having a heart attack. Yet when we compared the two (the EKG and the echocardiogram), we saw you did not have a heart attack.”
And I know why.
Facebook Message
I don’t put stuff on my Facebook, but I had Nico post a message:
“Pray for Fr. Bob. He’s having a heart attack.”
Now I know why I didn’t– because of the powerful prayers of the Community.
So, I think our Lord wanted me to survive that to tell you this: We all have our darkness. If you’ve had no darkness
in your life yet– live long enough, you will.
Maybe your darkness is loneliness — you wish somebody would nourish you, a guy or a girl would go on a journey with you the rest of your life.
Maybe a loss– you lost your mom, your dad, your lolo, your lola. Maybe during COVID. And you’re not over it.
You’re still in that dark place, wondering, “Why she died, and others live?” Maybe it’s anxiety. You need to know what’s going to happen next.
Maybe it’s depression. Nobody’s been able to talk you out of it. Because you can’t talk somebody out of depression. Maybe, you’re like me– a patient. And the doctor says you have to be very, very careful. Maybe you’re a cancer patient. And your darkness is going through all that chemotherapy, and getting sick. And you’re wondering if it’s going to do any good at all.
Darkness. When we’re in the darkness, Jesus wants to give us something.
When I said– without saying it out loud, just in my whole soul, knowing I was going to die in a couple of minutes– I just said, “Okay” — a peace descended upon me. It did. And it was okay.
God’s Message
Let There Be Light.
The light wasn’t like this light shining on me now. But in that most desperate moment when my soul projected Okay, He was there.
Bo calls it the surrendered place. It’s not something that you can get to by wanting to.
We say Let There Be Light. That means allow there to be light
If I’d been pleading with Him, if I said, “Let this pass” — like I did with the prayer with Nico– I don’t know if that would have happened.
It was just Okay… Then I was peaceful.
Now, the second part: You probably had a heart attack, you’re not able to do all these things– Me, I just said, “However You want to use me…”
I didn’t beg anymore. I learned my lesson that morning.
The Three Ts
So, in whatever darkness you’re in, always remember that at the darkest of those moments, when you have nothing, when it seems that the gates of Heaven are bolted and locked from the inside, and you’re left with profound lonely silence, remember the Three Ts.
1. Talk It Over. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He did what Nico and I did. He talked it over. And He was so anxious that He needed to know what was going to come next.
And having no control over it, He said, “Father, can this cup pass through me?” I once asked the doctor, “Is it possible to sweat blood?”
He said, “Only under cases of extreme anxiety.”
2. Turn Over. So, if you’re ever extremely anxious, our Lord Himself has been If you’re ever anticipating pain, our Lord was there.
But in the realization that He had no control over what would happen next, what did He do?
He said, “Father, I wish we could do it some other way… But not my will but Yours be done.”
Jesus talked it over, turned it over– gave it completely to the Father, and finally, He trusted them.
3. “Into Your hands I commend my spirit.” In the most extreme moment of weakness and pain.
So, I am not the president for that– even though I did that. Jesus is the president in which He is saying, “No matter how much darkness you’re in, and you don’t have control over the future, open your heart. Talk to me. Don’t edit your prayer. Surrender it to me and trust me. We will get through this.”
When you’re in that dark place, 1. Talk it over; 2. Turn it over; and 3. Trust. And if you do that with your whole soul, no matter what your darkness is, there will be Light.
Plenary Talk 1
REV. FR. REGINALD MALICDEM
Vicar General and Vicar Moderator Curia of the Diocese of Manila
Let me begin by reading to you a passage from Scriptures — a reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke:
The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth
(Isaiah 61:1–11; Matthew 13:53–58; Mark 6:1–6) 16 Then Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath. And when He stood up to read, 17 the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 Then He rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him, 21and He began by saying, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Last September 8, the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I celebrated my 20th Anniversary as a priest.
Six months before I was ordained as priest, I was ordained as deacon. The deacon is a minister of the Word.
In this reflection on the Word as a guiding light, I remember during my ordination into the deaconate, the Bishop handed me the Book of the Gospels which would be my primary instrument as a deacon
Believe!
The Bishop told me: Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you now are. Believe what you read. Teach what you believe. Practice what you teach.
Although these words were addressed to me as a deacon, these words are addressed to all of us baptized…
In the Book of the Prophet Amos, Chapter 8, because of the sins of the people, God sent not a famine of bread, or thirst for water, but for hearing the Word of the Lord.
God will not speak and the people will not hear a word from the Lord– because they were not listening.
But the famine has been taken away…Because God’s
Word now is readily available only if we hear, if we listen, and we pay much attention to it.
Believe also that God is true to His Word. God keeps His Word.
And believe that God’s Word became flesh.
That is the wonder of wonders. The Word of God is a Person. The Word of God has a Face that we can see: that of Jesus.
So, if the Word of God is Love, that Love is Jesus.
The Blood and Flesh of Jesus.
Teach!
Teach the Word of God.
If you love Jesus, you cannot control yourself telling people about Him.
Practice!
The Word of God is meant to be lived. The credibility of what we’re teaching lies in living out God’s Word.
Read. Believe what you read. Teach what you read.
Practice what you teach.
And you would be surprised what the word of God can do to us.
God our Father, Thank You for Your Word. Thank You for speaking to us.
Thank You for giving us Jesus, Your Word made flesh.
Help us to believe Your Word that we hear and read.
Inspire us to teach what we believe.
And give us the courage to practice what we teach. So that Your Word may truly be our guiding Light. So that Your Word may illumine our path.
And so that Your Word may truly be a Lamp unto our feet and a Light unto our path. Amen.
God bless all of you.
Plenary Talk 2
Plenary Talk 2 is not a talk in the sense that only one person is doing the talking — or preaching.
The Talk in Plenary 2 is a conversation between Bro. Bo Sanchez and special guest Jonathan Roumie. Bro. Bo interviews Roumie in the style of Boy Abunda, popular TV gossip anchor.
Jonathan Roumie is an American actor born in New York City. His parents were migrants in New York. His mother came from Ireland and his father from Cairo, Egypt.
Roumie was baptized in the Orthodox Church but was converted to Catholicism. He explains why and how in his dialogue with Bro. Bo.
Roumie also talks about his gift as an actor and how he landed the role of Jesus in The Chosen.
A hit television series, The Chosen is an American Christian historical drama created, directed, and co-written by filmmaker Dallas Jenkins, about the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.
Roumie discussed with Bro. Bo what makes The Chosen different from other films or publications about Jesus, which makes it a megahit show.
BRO. BO: We’ve been waiting for this time. How many of you watched The Chosen? You are only a small part of the 200 million viewers all over the world who watched
The Chosen. There have been 770 million views of the episodes of The Chosen. This year, The Chosen app has become the Number 1 App on Apple TV, the Number 2 App on all free iPhone apps on the Apps store. Please welcome the man who plays the role of Jesus, Jonathan Roumie.
JONATHAN ROUMIE:
Hello, Hello! You guys alive? Good Afternoon. Good Evening!
Selfie Capital of the World! Here we go… That’s a very good crowd!
There’s a lot of you. Really bright. Wow!
BRO. BO: So, I’m going to actually give a big test. I will tempt these people… You know, envy is one of the cardinal sins and I’m going to let you all go through a test that you should not be envious of this… Fight that temptation!
JONATHAN ROUMIE: Ha-ha-ha. You’re a cruel, cruel man, Bro. Bo.
First of all, thank you so much for agreeing to our seven-hour J interview. It’s really just touching.
I am honored we are finally able to make it happen.
I am not playing the role of Jesus in a worldwide, you know, global phenomenon called The Chosen. But for
44 years, I’ve been a preacher, and sometimes, because I come from Catholic Philippines …
And so, I am walking in a mall, and somebody touches me, and says, “Bro. Bo!”
(And makes the Sign of the Cross) They do that to me!
Not every day, but you know, once in a while.
How does that make you feel?
Weird.
Welcome, to my life!
There you go! I wanted to bring that out! Is that tough for you?
Yeah. Because as a Catholic, it’s really unusual– it’s difficult to receive people in a posture that
I think, for me, is reserved for clergy and religious.
And so, for people to approach me in that way…
A couple of years ago, I had somebody kneeling, kissed my hand, and I thought,
“Get up, get up! Not me! I’m just a dude playing the dude that happened to be God that would change the world.”
But I’m just a dude, you know?
I think it was one of those talks– the Eucharistic Conference.
I love your answer.
And everybody just responded.
You said, “I’m just the TV Jesus.” And then you pointed…
Without the Real Jesus, I wouldn’t have been the TV Jesus.
Because He put me in this place, in this position. So, Glory God!
Real Jesus, TV Jesus
For our interview), we’re going to start light, then we’re going to go heavy.
Sounds good.
I’m going to do a Boy Abunda
(TV gossip anchor who poses choices about the interviewee’s favorites)
(After trivia questions), last question:
Human Jesus or Divine Jesus?
I am going to respond with hypostatic union (a Christian theological term describing Jesus as both fully human and fully divine, united in one person).
And I say, “Both.”
Because I think — just as believers– we need to really take into consideration, when we read about Jesus, when we listen to His Word, when we hear
His sermons through Scripture, we have to remember that He did everything in the
fullness and in the context of humanity. And so, everything He did had human context and consequences. And so, having that experience, so that we would have a God that we could then relate to, I think it’s everything.
And I think one of the joys that I’ve had in playing Jesus in The Chosen is the opportunity to explore His humanity. We assume His divinity from the get-go. And we have a picture of what that can maybe look like– in the Resurrection, in the miracles.
But what was His day-to-day humanity? His conversations?
And for me, that’s such a joy to get to try to unravel, to make a little clearer– to myself, we hope to our audience.
So, one is completely interconnected to the other, I would say.
The Humanity of Jesus
Yes, Jesus is divine, but you brought it out so well: Jesus smiling, Jesus laughing with His disciples.
When was the last time I saw Jesus laugh in another movie?
And the way you loved the sinners. It came out so well. So, thank you for that.
Thank you. I have to give credit to our writers. I mean, never in a million years did I ever imagine that the appearance of Jesus in a show about His life and ministry would open His first appearance, would be in a bar.
It’s the beginning of a joke: Jesus walked in a bar and redeemed Mary Magdalene ultimately of her demons.
So, they, our writers… They have created a narrative with such ingenuity, and such nuance, such humanity, that it’s just compelling. Like as a reader, I couldn’t stop turning the pages. Every script that we get, every episode that we receive, they just get better and better at telling the story in a very unique way that really engages people and the culture in a way that gets us to reconsider the stories that we already know. And it’s been just such an honor and a gift for me.
Biblically accurate, and yet so creative. What part of the Human Jesus do you love the most, as you play Jesus?
Oh… You know, I think it’s almost impossible to go through your entire life without laughing.
And so, I think being able to find those moments where Jesus can actually laugh and enjoy His relationships with people, enjoy people’s pleasure when they receive the miracle, or when they receive a healing, being able to watch them, as
Jesus sees their lives transformed, and taking the joy in giving something to them.
I think those were my favorite– those moments Jesus getting to laugh, getting to smile, getting to take pleasure in creation and in healing people.
Learning About Jesus
And in playing the role, what have you learned about Jesus that you didn’t fully understand before playing Him?
I think it goes back to the humanity thing.
There were so many moments that we had filmed where
I got the script and I thought, “I never would have thought of Jesus doing this.”
But surely, He must have. It had to have.
I don’t know if it was so much that I learned something that I didn’t know… The thing that I didn’t realize, that I didn’t know about Jesus, is that there’s so much I don’t know about Jesus.
There was confirmation that there’s so much to learn.
The deeper you go in studying Him, the more time you spend with Him, the more the mystery kind of deepens — regarding His life, regarding His humanity. His humanity is mysterious to me.
But I think the thing that struck me the most that I wasn’t anticipating is seeing these very average moments, you know, just being with His disciples…
They’re bickering about something… and He’s just like…
Because He must have felt that.
He was with 12 guys for three years. Come on, you know…
Like, oh, my gosh, they’re going to get on His nerves at some point, probably frequently.
At least once a week, somebody is going to say something where
He would be like, “Come on, guys, what are you doing?” So, that’s been really, really eye-opening for me.
A Question for All of Us
If you were to see Jesus, what would you ask Him?
Yeah, I got asked this question before, and I just kind of… It just got stuck with me… And I have the same answer: “Was I close? Did I come close?”
I’m a preacher and I can give a 45-minute preaching right now on that one sentence: “Was I close?”
I think that’s a question for all of us.
You don’t have to be Jesus on a TV show to ask yourself that question.
And how do you answer that question?
What would your answer be to that question: “Lord, did I come close to being You in the world… for everyone that I encountered?”
Who Was Jonathan Roumie Before The Chosen?
Like, did you go through a conversion? Who were you before all this happened?
I think I was still me… Uhm, but I was me who thought he was tasked with his own destiny– that God had given me a mandate that I had to figure it out and succeed on my own– in my field.
I felt I was given these gifts and talents as an actor, so I moved to Los Angeles from New York — almost 15 years ago. And eight years into it, I found myself struggling– I wasn’t making a living at it.
I was struggling and I had to take up all different kinds of jobs to make ends meet, to try to pay my rent, try to put food on the table.
And I didn’t understand, I didn’t know why it was so hard– when clearly, the Lord would give me the opportunities, here and there. And they seemed to be, you know, they were great opportunities that maybe should have led to something else– but they didn’t.
So, I was somebody that struggled for a long time. And I couldn’t figure out why… Until I was pushed to my very limits– which is when I had a deeper conversion.
You know, I had been Catholic since my First Communion. I was baptized Greek Orthodox. My mother was Roman Catholic and we sort of transitioned when we moved out of New York– from city to the suburbs to just going to the nearest church– which was a Catholic church.
My father was familiar with the Catholic Church because he went to a Catholic school as a kid, so it wasn’t a big deal.
It wasn’t like, “Let’s go convert, become Catholic.”
My mom was already Catholic, so, my dad was, “Yeah, it was pretty much the same thing– Orthodox, pretty close– let’s just go there.”
And so, we did, and I came away, making my First Communion, and my Confirmation, and it just sort of stuck. And there were no issues with the baptism– they recognized each other’s baptisms– so…
Awakening
I had faith– but I never thought about my career and my relationship to God, and how they should be completely locked up, and synchronized, and in union with one another– that my vocation as an artist had to be in line with what God wanted for me, and not what I wanted for myself.
Because then, they weren’t in line– when I wanted what I wanted, what I’d thought God wanted for me– which was really what I wanted deep down.
I mean, we’re sort of selfish by nature– that was part of the Fall of Humanity, isn’t it?
So, I got to basically the end of my rope.
I was eight years into Los Angeles, and I woke up one morning, uhm, broke— beyond broke. Like my bank account was negative, and my credit cards were cut off– I was in bad shape financially.
And I didn’t have food the day after that day– like tomorrow. I had food only for today. And when it was gone, I didn’t know what was I going to do. So, the only thing I could do was become really aware of what I believed– what I professed to believe.
As a Christian, did I believe in God and His lordship over my life?
Or I was just saying that? Was I professing that kind of on a surface level? Was I fooling myself? I didn’t really believe it.
No. I believed it– but I never really acted on it. I never acted like I believed it– until that very moment.
Surrender
And so, I dropped to my knees, and I just literally just poured out my heart to the Lord.
I said, “Lord, you brought me to this point. You must have brought me to this point for a reason. You gave me these gifts and You’ve given me bites of a career, like a semblance of a career, slivers of artistic success and opportunity– but nothing more. I don’t know why. So, if you want me to continue this, You are going to have to step in now. Be kind.
“And if I’m in the way, then let me get out of the way…”
“You said to me, come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. You said that Your burden was easy and Your yoke was light — and so, take my burden. Lord, I surrender. I give up.”
Commitment
“And I know now that whatever happens from this moment, forward, I truly and fully believe that it is not incumbent upon me to save myself. I can’t save myself. Only God can save me. And so, I give it to You.”
And I got up and I got those 20 bucks in my pocket, and I left my house, and I spent it on like, brunch.
I’m a big brunch guy.
I was like, “I’m just going to spend this on food, I’m going to enjoy it, let’s see what happens next. “
And I came back to my apartment. And I was just going through my mailbox, and I really felt like, you know, “I’m okay. Like I don’t have any pressure at this point because now, I’ve fully trusted, I’ve put my trust and faith in God that He’s going to figure it out. And I’m not going to stress about it.”
I never really actually felt the weight lifted up my shoulders– but it was gone…
God’s Choice
So, I was going through my mailbox, opened it up and they’re staring me in the face– four checks. And I had no idea where they came from. I was not expecting any money. There was one source that I was expecting– a small
$50-check. I’d just done a Passion play in my church and so I bought some makeup for “Jesus on the Cross” and there was my $50 reimbursement check right there. Yes!
But then these other three checks I didn’t have idea.
So, I took my checks and went upstairs to my bedroom, I turned on my phone, I turned on the camera function, put it on video, pressed Record, and I started opening the checks. And each check was bigger than the one before it. By the end of me opening the checks, I had $11,000.
And I wept.
I just wept. I wept at the goodness of God. I wept at His faithfulness.
I wept on the fact that I was standing on His promise, and I fully and completely gave all my troubles to Him, trusting that He would take care of me, no matter what– and He did.
Three months later, I got called to play Jesus in The Chosen. Life has never been the same since.
Have You Really Surrendered?
Oh, my gosh. That is amazing.
Surrender.
God, I do it every day. I still have to do it. You’ve got to surrender everything. Everything you’re struggling with, everything you’re wrestling with — your relationships, your marriage, your friendships, your grades, classes that are giving you troubles.
You’ve got to work — but you also have to surrender. You’ve got to completely put your faith and your trust in God — and you have to mean it.
And you’ll know the difference. It will feel different when you’ve actually done it. You’re shouldering some kind of a burden that feels so oppressive and you can’t breathe some days, you get shortness of breath, you’ve got pain in your chest.
First of all, stop and pray the Rosary because that will do wonders for you. And then ask yourself: “Have I completely surrendered this issue, that problem, this person. Have I completely surrendered them to the care of our Lord? To the mantle of His Blessed Mother? Have I done that?”
And if the answer is Yes, but you don’t feel any different, then ask yourself again: “Have I really … If I have to think about this person now, would I still… maybe I’m feeling like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I don’t know what to do’…”
If you think about that person, and you still have anxiety, you still got shortness of breath, whatever it is, you still feel oppressed by whatever that is, then chances are, you haven’t really, fully surrendered.
Because when you do, everything physically changes. The air changes.
On a molecular level, things change around you and you feel the difference. And you know you’ve surrendered.
What’s Next?
I love what you said a while ago:
“Then let me get out of the way.”
Our Conference theme is
Let There Be Light– and sometimes, the biggest obstacle to the Light is ourselves.
And we just have to step away and surrender.
After this, what happens?
I know you’re not married. Is marriage something on the future, or are you thinking of priesthood, or the Pope– it might seem a demotion– you know (from being Jesus) to being PopeJ
Security, watch the Bishops that they don’t come storming after me after this J
You know, that’s something in my own life that, I mean, I’ve been in relationships –and currently I’m not. That’s something I have to put on the Lord.
Right now, I’ve been really focused on trying to see where the Lord is directing my steps…
There are so many things that are happening and coming down the pipe for me professionally, and my prayer is always, “Lord, whatever You want for me. Not what I want for me.”
Since that moment of surrender, it’s just a daily mantra: “Lord, whatever You want for me, whatever You feel is right for me, Lord…”
I think I’m a little old to be a priest at this point. If something were to happen and He put it in my heart and He wanted to open up the route to that, then, so be it.
If He wants to bless me with a family, wife, then, so be it. But at this point, I’m not trying to force anything.
Through the Darkness
You know, what’s so amazing about you is that you’re not just taking a role, and acting Jesus.
There’s something genuine about you.
You really love the Guy. You really love Him.
You follow Him. And so, I guess that comes out in your role.
I love your sharing about Surrender.
You know, this whole Conference is about Light– Redeeming Light.
And you shared that moment when you surrendered everything to the Lord– and then you said a while ago, you do it every day.
Maybe, one more sharing of some darkness that you went through — I know you had some difficult times in the past…
I think even when I first booked The Chosen— despite what it looks like now, and still an anomaly by Hollywood standards, by most studio standard– it’s completely crowd-funded– fan-supported, through donations, merchandise, all that stuff that you see, the stores– all those go to fund our staff salaries.
And we’ve got a foundation called Come and See Foundation that raises money through donations that actually fund the show. So, the money that we raise is from fans around the world. That’s why you see Dallas
(Jenkins, creator-director of The Chosen) doing live (promotion) streams, kind of dance-for-nickels, as he says it.
Because we still need support. We need the show funded; we still have two more episodes left.
When we started, all I knew was that there would be four episodes of a crowd-funded television show. Nobody had ever done any crowd-funding for a television show.
When I heard four episodes, I thought that would be the most amount of television show I would have ever done in my life. Bring it on!
So, we did four episodes, and that was all we were guaranteed. And I still drove rides for companies, I still painted houses, I still worked with special needs kids, to keep the bills paid. But I didn’t worry about it.
Moments of Uncertainty
So, I had to check in at times. There were even moments when I would really get close to like six months prior, if I was in that situation before my deeper conversion, before my surrender, I would have been freaking out.
But it was like, “I don’t know how I’m going to pay rent this month.
“All right, what are You going to do, Lord? What have You got coming? I’m here, Man. Whatever You need, just…”
And then literally, like the night before rent was due– like without fail– I would either receive a check, payment from another show, came in just in the nick of time.
Or I would get a call from a friend saying,
“Hey, you want to work for me tomorrow? I need some help like for two weeks…”
And I would say, “Okay, yeah. Sure.”
And I began to trust that that was how it was going to go.
I kind of felt the Lord was kind of testing me: “You still believe me?” “Yeah.”
“Well, we’ll see…”
That would still happen. So, I had to continue in moments when I didn’t know… I had moments of uncertainty. I didn’t have an idea how I was going to pay my rent. But I didn’t worry about it.
So, I still had to deal with everything that people have to deal with– even though I had booked a show. Nothing was guaranteed. We didn’t know. I couldn’t assume that we would actually get to seven seasons. But I pray that if the Lord wants it, we would.
Your sharing about not having enough to pay the rent, lack of finances, all of us here, we don’t relate to thatJ
What are you, guys, doing for a living?
That’s amazing!
NahJ We relate to that. Wonderful. Thank you, for that.
Tomorrow Is Not Guaranteed
You know, you’re holding that microphone, the camera has been focusing on your hands, and people might be wondering what in the world is that…
They might be thinking:
He secretly worships the Devil… What’s going on… Okay. What are those?
They are skulls on my fingers. There’s an ancient Catholic meditation that was borrowed from even more ancient Roman tradition called Memento mori.
The tradition holds that when Roman generals won a battle, and they would be returning back to Rome, after they conquered a territory somewhere, they would have one of their servants or slaves whispering in their ear, “Memento mori— Remember you will die.
You might have won this battle, but one day you will die. “
So, in the Middle Ages, many of the Catholic monks borrowed this tradition — you’ll see a lot of artworks in the Middle Ages, even beyond, which were pictures of saints with skulls on their desk.
Why were they obsessed with death? What they translated from that Roman tradition was that life is fleeting, life is ephemeral.
Tomorrow is not guaranteed. So, how can I live a more holy life today?
So, this is a reminder that I will die one day — God willing, not in a while.
I feel like I still have a bit of mission. I’ve got two more seasons left.
Lord, You can’t take me before that. I mean, You could. But I really hope You don’t.
But what can I do today in the meantime, knowing that I don’t have tomorrow guaranteed? To be more holy today. To be the face of Jesus today.
To be holy and set an example, a witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people I meet today.
That’s what these rings are. These have been touched to countless relics around the world. It’s been blessed by the Pope, actually.
So, they’re holier than I am.
Acceptance
How many of you here are 40 years old and above? You know, a lifespan is about 4,000 Sundays. All of you who raised your hands, you’ve got 2,000 left– if you live until 80. We’re not even sure of that.
I’m 58. I know I look younger than that. 47.8– that’s how I look like.
I have 1,000 Sundays left.
I love those rings. I love the message. Life is short.
I’m going to put out a T-shirt pretty soon, with skulls for Memento mori. It’s been such a prominent philosophy for me in the last several years, especially coming through everything that I had gone through my own life, and living with so much uncertainty– and then all of a sudden having opportunities.
It’s part of you, even now, when you’re thinking:
When is the other shoe going to drop? That’s an expression that’s like, as an actor, you’re so used to not working consistently, that you’re just waiting for the job to end.
It’s taken a lot of, sort of mental rewiring and undoing to let go of that mentality, and to allow God– to just see what’s in front of me as a gift– and to go with God’s flow in my life.
But sometimes, it’s hard. I have to fight, to not think, “When is it all going to end?”
The greatest fear is, “Okay, the show’s going to end. Then I would be out of work for the rest of my life.”
The way He’s directed my life, I don’t feel that to be true. But if it were true, where He took me to a completely different direction, then I pray that I have the grace to just accept His will for my life.
Message
Jonathan, the stage is yours. I want to ask you to please give us one last message. Speak to them. We are a bunch of people that are trying to love
God in all our weaknesses. Sometimes we don’t feel worthy. Sometimes, we feel an impostor. Sometimes, we struggle with faith. Sometimes we doubt.
Sometimes we think, “Where is God?”
Just give us one word. Leave us this message from the Lord.
God loves each and every one of you so much, He took the trouble to put you on this Earth. He put each and every one of you on this Planet for a purpose.
For a purpose that would glorify Him in some way.
He never promised us a life free of trouble, free of struggle, free of ridicules, sometimes, free of persecution, free of financial struggles, relational struggles. He didn’t promise that we won’t go through any of those. But we have to consider the Cross.
We have to consider what He allowed
His own Son to go through– on our behalf.
What if it were us up there? What if you were sentenced to that Cross? The way we all deserve to be sentenced.
But instead, He went in our place.
If you were on Death Row– there’s something that you did, or said to somebody…
A guy walks in and says, “No, no, no. They’re okay. I’m going to take their place.”
You don’t know who that person is. I’d want to know who that person is. That’s who Jesus is.
Revelation
Have you taken an opportunity to really get to know Christ?
To really know Jesus– as a friend, as your Lord, as your ransom?
If you haven’t, you must. You must know Him on the most fundamental molecular level like you can possibly imagine. Because only then will your purpose be revealed to you. And what His plans for your life.
That’s why you are here. You are here to figure out that purpose. You’re here to serve Him and glorify Him. And as you do, with everything that you do, with the smallest action, with the kindest word, He will reveal everything He wants for your life– whether or not you know it’s coming,
I’m proof of this. Because I didn’t have this relationship with Jesus until very recently in my life– last several years.
And I’m still learning, I’m still trying to go deeper. I’m trying to get to know Him more.
And it’s absolutely necessary that you take the steps to engage Him, and if you’ve never had that conversation with Him before, to start tell Him:
“Talk to me, Lord. Speak to me, Lord. Tell me what you want for my life, Lord. Show me how to serve You, Lord– and not me.”
One of the prayers I have whenever I go into filming The Chosen is: “Lord. let them see not my face on screen. Let them see Your Face.
Let them hear not my voice. Let them hear Your Voice.” May be so, in Jesus’ Holy Name. Amen.
Jonathan Roumie!
Thank you, guys! Thank you so much.
God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.
We need to respond. Just say Thank You to the Lord.
In the Name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We do want more of that Light, Lord, to shine in our life.
And yes, we want to — if we’re blocking the Light– we want to step aside, get out of the way, and surrender. And surrender. Every day, surrender. Every day declare to You: You do what You want to do in our lives.
Your will be done. Not ours. You be in charge. You sit upon the throne and You be King.
And let Your Light shine on us.
Everybody, just say that prayer:
Lord, let Your Light shine on me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
