What happens when God helps buy a cow?

What does a priest, a cow, and the CEO of an airline have to do with food stories?

Hang tight, because this one's gonna have you rolling in the aisles.

Punt intended.

Stay tuned.

There's a lot more in store.

Hey there, food lovers and history buffs.

I'm Nancy May.

And I'm Sylvia.

Lovely.

Welcome to Family Tree Food and Stories.

Pull up your chair to the table and get ready to dig in as we take you on a wild

ride through generations of flavors.

That's right.

We are dishing up the juiciest family history secrets.

Some epic dinner disasters and intriguing taste behind your favorite dishes.

From grandma's legendary cheese crust, apple pie to Uncle

Bob's questionable casserole.

There's a lot more going on at that table than you might realize, so join

us as we eat, laugh, relive the past, and create new mealtime memories

together because every meal has a.

Story and every story is a feast.

Let's dig into the show.

Hello everybody.

Welcome to another episode of Family Tree Food and Stories.

This is a rather unusual show.

I would say, well, maybe not unusual, but it's a different show and one that

Sylvia and I have put a lot of thought into, not just ourselves, but with

our guest who is Father Jim Cisco, and we are talking about food in a very

different way, not just with our family, but from the heart and the soul and

the spiritual connection that we have.

And that's something that I think sometimes we forget about, but food

really does play so much a part of our lives from the moment that we take

our first breath to the moment that we take our last breath, and there's a lot

of space in between, or should I say, there's a lot of chewing in between.

Sylvia, why don't you go ahead and, yeah, introduce Father Jim to us.

Yes, let's, uh, do that.

Um, I've known Father Jim for years and I've so enjoyed knowing him.

I'm thrilled to have this opportunity.

I need about three days to tell everything, but we're gonna let

him tell most of the stories.

Okay?

But Father Jim was trained as an opera singer at the New England

Conservatory of Music, okay?

And that's not all.

He switched gears and fulfilled a lifelong dream, and was ordained

as a priest in Lexington in 1998.

But this is really cool.

He was asked by Pope Francis in 2016 to be one of 100 missionaries of mercy

in the US as a traveling evangelist.

Now he has a banner of preaching, evangelizing, and performing

random acts of kindness.

I can't wait to hear, and I'll add also, he's a storyteller.

And a singer, uh, he's a package, uh, falling back on his opera training.

Uh, he usually treats his audience to a song and so I'm real excited about that.

And we'll wanna hear about his random acts of kindness, you know, things

like, uh, what about those steers in Texas, or donations for food victims?

Uh, IGA in a small town, I think I read something about that.

It's hard to keep up with you.

Uh, but also we do wanna get into something else

that's very, very important.

He's a foodie.

Just like us and Miss Marie's spaghetti sauce, his mother's spaghetti sauce,

and he has produced it and the proceeds are going to charity and I love

that Delta Airlines has adopted it.

You said that you live on Delta Airlines.

I love that.

And this is only the tip of the iceberg.

So we wanna cover all of those things.

And without further ado, I might even wanna hear the Pringle story.

They were your parishioners when you were a little kid.

I know everything about you.

Uh, so welcome Father Jim.

We're delighted to have you and

it's great to be here.

Yeah.

When do you sleep?

On Delta?

On Delta.

That is it?

Yes.

So, father Jim, you said that Delta flies on Marie's, they

serve it right in their Serve Us.

Yeah.

So, so they, they picked it up in using it at their different Sky clubs

across the, the United States and, uh.

They represented and regarded the whole aspect of the charitable giving about

how from the food, from my mom's sauce, how in turn, uh, we are feeding others

through the charities of, uh, hospice in southeast Texas, which was one of the

first hospices nonprofit hospices in.

The United States.

It was one of the ten first hospices in the United States, and it was

also the first hospice in Texas.

And the beautiful thing about Southeast Texas Hospice is that it is, not only

is it nonprofit, but it goes back to the whole concept of really what

I believe hospice was geared for.

And that is tending to the individuals.

Needs and also their family and caregivers from, you know, really

that transition from, uh, what we would say one life to a next.

And, uh, the second proceeds charity goes to feeding the poor in Appalachia

so that the money that is raised goes into ways to assist those in Appalachia.

Through the ministry of the Diocese of Lexington.

Um, and so, you know, it, it's great.

It's as if my mom and my family, uh, really live on, and, uh, the,

the sauce is all natural, no sugar.

Uh, it is produced solely, uh, it is Kentucky, proud and produced in

Kentucky and, and sold all throughout.

The United States and, uh, it, it's a great honor for me.

It was something that I dreamed up a year after my mother had died.

I wanted to, I. Celebrate her life in some way, and I wanted to know how to put

the sauce together and um, really had a great team that, that helped me with that.

I remember when I first decided to do this, I was told it will never happen.

It'll take years.

Uh, nope.

I had it done within, within six months.

Well, I think you had a little, had a, a little higher power help,

so, well, you know, you do have,

I, I think perseverance pays off and, and I think that's that's true with cooking.

I think that's true with food.

It doesn't always come out as you expect it to at first, and sometimes

it takes a little creativity.

It's, uh, you know, feeding and cooking, um, is, is not for the

weak or the weary, you know?

I know.

Even,

even the things that aren't so beautiful can be delicious.

That right.

That's, and they feed somebody's heart salt.

That's exactly

true.

That's right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Uh, and so Ms. Marie came about as a tribute to your mother?

That's correct.

I love There's enough because.

Yeah, go ahead.

Let,

let me just say this.

See what, what people, a lot of people do not know is that every

Thursday at our house at 11 o'clock, I'm the, I'm the youngest of five,

so my brothers and sisters, I.

All of us got picked up at nine 30 in the morning from Catholic

school, and we came home every Thursday at nine 30 in the morning.

And the reason we came home is that our mother and father, but mostly

mom, would be cooking her sauce, her spaghetti, making her homemade ravioli,

chicken bread, and um, uh, salad.

My dad would have us five set the dining room table, not the kitchen table.

The dining room table in our home was only used for the highest of guests.

Okay?

Um, and so at 11 o'clock every Thursday morning.

Uh, would be a loud horn sound, and then in the front door by their description.

And when I mean there, I mean, our house guests would be four

huge, stinky, smelly garbage men.

Oh, I love that.

Then they would looking to be fast.

They would come

to, they would come to the dining room table.

Oh, that's

beautiful.

And my, my mom and dad had us five serve them.

Oh,

that's wonderful.

We, we would not sit

with them.

We would not eat with them.

We would serve them.

And then, um, it was eight years ago that I.

I was speaking on January 26th.

I was speaking in Houston, Texas.

I finished my speaking and there was just something tugging me to go the,

the next day was gonna be Thursday.

I rearranged my flight.

I drove to Texas, two hours to Houston, outside of Houston to Orange, Texas.

I went and there was my mother, 88 years old.

She was cooking.

It was Thursday morning.

I helped her.

We fed the garbage man.

Uh, I went outside, I took a selfie.

I have the selfie here.

I took a selfie.

And when I went in, my mother had collapsed and died.

Yeah.

Oh, that's makes sense.

And what is very, wait,

what?

What is very interesting is that in her will.

She only left five things to want each of us children.

One thing for each child, there were five of us, and the rest of the items had to

go to an organization called St. Vincent DePaul, which is an outreach organization.

Mm-hmm.

That feeds and clothes and nurtures individuals in need.

And so one of the things, she left my oldest brother.

Her nativity set.

She left my oldest sister, her wedding ring, my middle brother got the sauce pot.

My sister next to me got a bro, and I got the sauce recipe.

Ooh.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And so, oh, you're the winner.

That's right.

And then I in turn turned the sauce.

Into allowing others to receive it and keep that tradition going.

So your mom, your mom passed away actually at the point of serving others.

Yes.

And now you continue that tradition.

That's correct.

It's beautiful.

That's absolutely beautiful.

I can't think a better way to talk about spirituality and food.

Well, I was just about to say it's a way Yeah,

that that's exactly, is that not really, regardless of what white

faith tradition you belong to.

I agree.

Yes.

That, that.

Is Yes.

The whole concept.

Mm-hmm.

Of what we're called to do.

Oh, how inspiring that is and yeah.

Oh, it falls into just a. Different category of even thinking.

It makes chills come up and down me, it, it chill down

my back thinking, oh my gosh.

Right.

And, but it's a good chill.

It's a good chill.

Yeah, absolutely.

Uh, what a beautiful, so that was, you know, gosh, no wonder

you are doing what you do.

You are just like born to do what you're doing.

Well,

I, I, but I, I think the thing is, you know.

Well, what, let, let's even, you know, you brought up that whole sense of,

you know, as soon as you're born, you know, you're, you're looking for that

nurture and even, well, what, what we know at this time, and I don't know by

the time the podcast is aired, but we know at this time it's a critical moment

for Pope Francis who is who is ill.

But isn't it interesting always when someone is ill, we

wanna know, are they eating?

Arely receiving, you know, and that when we hear that they've stopped

eating or stopped drinking, happens.

That's exactly right.

Happens to us.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

We immediately, I mean, go on high alert red flags.

It's panic.

Start showing.

It's a panic.

That's right.

It's panic and, and so it's very interesting from the aspect of

illness, how, one of the questions that is always asked is, you know.

Uh, are they eating?

Uh, yeah.

How, how is their appetite?

Yeah.

You know, that type of thing.

You know, it's, it's interesting On that point, when my dad was in hospice,

we brought him home to home hospice.

He had stopped eating, uh, one of his, he had a last request, which

was food, which was clam chowder.

We have, that's episode number two, podcast number two for anybody who has

not heard it, but the other way that.

Um, we knew my aides and my sister and I that we could take care of

ourselves at that point in time because it's just as important for the

caregiver to take care of themselves.

That's right.

And that, as hard as that is to accept, we all took turns every single night making

a favorite family dish from one another.

So it was our way to sort of bring home and nurture.

To everybody who was taking care of my dad and my mom at the time.

And so, um, food played such an important part, even though my dad couldn't

eat and he did ask for clam chowder.

Um, we fed, we fed him in many different ways, um, emotionally,

spiritually, and we fed ourselves with things that would nurture us.

Yeah,

that's something that I share with, with people as a minister, as as a human being.

I always tell people, you know, you also.

Don't forget about yourself.

You have to take care of you as well.

Mm-hmm.

You know, and you know, when I've had any type of things be to God,

not a lot of medical procedures, but when I've had to have some type of

surgery that morning, I always bring food for the, the nurses, you know?

I do.

Yeah.

Uh, I do, I bring donuts, we do too.

Mm-hmm.

Coffee or, or some type of something to let them know that, uh.

Not only am I grateful for them, but at the same time I hope that they

take care of themselves as well.

Oh, that's a beautiful thing.

Yeah.

Tell us about the steers.

I wanna hear one or two of your stories.

Your steers was funny.

Yeah.

That this was a really, very much unique, um, situation.

So I was asked to go and speak in a very rural area of Texas.

And, um, what, when I speak, I go in on the weekend, I celebrate all of the

liturgies that take place, and then, uh, my program is called or, uh, 60 Minutes

for Jesus, where I just speak for and share story tell telling for 60 minutes.

So here I am in this very rural community, a very small church, one of

the smallest churches I've ever been in.

Everyone was in denim jeans, cowboy boots, huge belt buckles.

It's Texas after.

All right.

Everything's big in Texas.

That is, yes.

And the church, you know, there, there was a family, but the pastor

got.

Sick.

He got covid and they asked me if there were any emergencies

if I would take over for that.

And I said, well, yes, I can do that.

But you also have to realize something that as a missionary, I have two sets

of clothes and only one little carry on.

Yeah.

And I have my sandals, my shorts, and my hoodie that I wear.

So they only had one mass for the weekend because the community was so small, so

celebrated Mass, had the first night talk.

Monday morning, I get a frantic phone call from the secretary.

Father Jim.

Father Jim, you've got to get out to the Hughes's farm.

You're needed out at the uses farm.

I'm like, well slow down here.

I don't even know who the uses are.

I don't even know where their farm is.

I'm not from here.

All I have are sandal shorts and a hoodie.

And they, uh, she gave me the address.

She said, do you remember that family that sat in the front row?

And I said, oh, yeah, there were like nine children.

They said, yes, that, that's the uses.

There's something happening out there.

You need to go.

So I immediately took off, put the address in my GPS out on back Farm

roads in the middle of nowhere.

USA.

I pulled up to this farm.

There were ambulance, police, firefighters ran out, I mean,

in the middle of the farm.

And can I tell you something?

Mm-hmm.

Let me, I, I always say this, I said, you can tell I'm a city boy because

I should have never been in sandals.

Yeah.

Jumping out.

Not in Texas.

Nope.

And that's right in the middle of those pastures.

But the second, the second thing that was most amazing to me were how smart.

Those animals were.

Oh, I mean, we're talking large animals.

Oh yeah.

Snotty cows.

Yeah, I get it.

Oh, oh yes.

Big snotty cows.

And can I tell you something?

They looked at me if I, if they had a bubble over their head.

It was basically saying this.

You don't belong here.

Oh, no.

You know, so

they didn't

park the ways for Father Joe?

No, no, no.

They, they were,

they gave me the eye.

But they knew, they knew something was wrong and it was, yeah.

The father of the nine children who owned the farm, 50 years old, died

out in the middle of the field.

Oh

no.

Okay.

So, I mean, what do you do?

And I'm there and I learned a valuable lesson from two people.

One was, one is from Pope Francis and the second one was

from the Bishop of Lexington.

His name is John Stowe, who's also a foodie.

I. He, they both taught something called the Ministry of Presence, not the Ministry

of Words, but the Ministry of Presence.

And you know, just on a side note, that's very interesting because

oftentimes when you're really eating with people that you know and you love.

A lot of times there will be moments of silence and you're okay with that.

You're okay with that?

Uh, either because you're filling your mouth or, yeah.

Or just comfortable.

Or you're comfortable.

Yeah, you're comfortable.

So that's something I did.

I, there was nothing I could say, so I sat in the farmhouse and they knew I was there

and the farming community came and drove.

I remember that.

They asked me, they said, father, our pastor is sick.

What can I said?

What can I do for you?

They said, could you do the funeral?

And I said, well, I'm only here till Wednesday.

And they said, we'll, we'll take you.

And so I did the funeral on Wednesday.

What was very interesting was right before the funeral, I heard the

two youngest children say, what are we gonna do now that Dad has died?

Who is gonna take us this weekend?

For the auction, we're auctioning off our animals.

At the Houston Livestock Rodeo Show these two kids each had a steer

among them and they were members of an organization called FFA.

Sure.

FFA.

Future Farmers of America.

Future Farmers of America,

that's right.

And what were they gonna do?

Because this is, this was an important part.

With me, they had to step up and be a, a father to their family.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, what was interesting, that stuck with me, but I had to fly off.

So I flew off to Orlando and I remember that feeling now what?

Mm-hmm.

What is gonna happen to those children?

And so that day when I landed, I called FFA.

I called the national headquarters.

It was so funny.

I said, my name is Father Jim.

I'm, I'm, uh, need to speak.

And they said, wait a minute.

Are you the priest that was at the funeral yesterday?

And I said, were you there?

And they said, yes.

Uh, I said, were you one of the people in the FFA jackets?

You know, 'cause they wear those corduroy jackets.

Yeah,

those corduroy blue jackets.

I said, you know, the two young children said.

You know about their steers, and they said, yeah, they're going to

auction at the Livestock Rodeo Show.

I said, how can I help them?

They said, well, why don't you come to the auction?

I said, I can't do that.

I can't do that.

I said, I'm in Orlando.

I said, but how can I help them?

They said, well, you can.

We can call you.

You can be part of the bidding.

Oh, and I've never, I've never bid on an animal in my life.

I've never even bid on anything.

So that's what they did.

They called me without the kids knowing.

And, uh, this is what I heard, uh, when they called me.

So you bid up

the price?

Well, well, I didn't know what I was doing, to be honest with you.

Okay.

So yeah, I tell

you how that's how auctions work.

You get a shill in there, like bid 'em up.

That's right.

So this is what I heard.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Yeah.

And I'm like, what is going on?

I said, where are we?

And they said, we're at 3 cents.

Almost 3 cents.

Pound.

Pound, 3 cents.

No, I just said 3 cents.

I said, you all.

That's ridiculous.

Yeah.

I said $5, $5 and you could hear a pin drop and the the

auctioneer said, verify the bid.

And I said, $5.

And he said, sold $5.

And then they immediately, they immediately brought the next

steer, the of the daughter.

And they started again.

And I said, well, wait a minute.

$10. $10. And they said, sold.

And, um, I wrote two checks to, was that per pound or was that, wait, wait, wait.

I, I, I sent two checks to FFA, one for $5 and one for $10.

Oh no.

And um, a month later I got a phone call from Bishop Stowe.

And the CFO of the diocese, uhoh.

And, um, now Bishop s what's this?

I have to, I have to know, I have to context this.

Bishop Stowe is a Franciscan.

Okay.

And if you know anything about Franciscans, they are big on

the poor, the marginalized.

Mm-hmm.

They're big on helping the outcast.

They're big on, they will be the last person to leave your dining room table.

In the big house.

'cause they, you know, they love conversation.

They love all this

for food.

Yeah.

So he called me and he had the CFO of the diocese on the phone, who it was

not a particular fan of me or my antics.

And the bishop said, uh, father Jim, um, did you buy.

Any cattle in the last month.

And I said, well, yeah, I, I said, I did.

I said, I bought two steers for $15 and the CFO chimed in and

said, who said they were $15?

I said, I said, and I have the checks to prove it.

And the bishop said, are you sure that it wasn't $5 a pound and $10 a pound?

And I said, well, I don't think so.

And the A CFO says, well, we have a bill here.

Oh no.

That says you owe 50 over 20,000.

Oh my God.

And she said, and the CFO said.

We want that paid by the end of the week.

And I said, well, wait a minute.

How much do these things weigh?

And the first one weighed over 1500 pounds.

You didn't order chicken.

That's right.

The second.

The second was over.

1300 pounds.

Oh my goodness.

And the bishop chimed in and he said, and I quote, he said, you know, in reality,

this isn't Father Jim's first rodeo.

He said, he said, I'm gonna give him a month to raise money to figure

this out, to raise that money.

Yeah.

Well, let me tell you what I did, because it all comes full circle to your story.

And that is that that night.

I put a picture of both children and their steers that I bought, and I simply

said, I've done some crazy missionary of mercy for Pope Francis, but this is the

craziest last month I buried the father of these nine children, and today I found

out that I purchased both of their steers.

For $20,000.

I said, God will provide that.

After that evening, after I posted that, I got a phone call.

Love.

I got a phone call from a man named Ed Bastion.

I don't know if your listeners know, know, I know, I know.

Ed Bastion.

CEO is the CEO and President of Delta.

Of Delta Delta Airlines.

Oh my goodness.

Now, this was, this is before my mom's sauce was used on the airline.

And he said to me, he said to me, uh, father Jim, I said, yes.

He said, my name is Ed Basian.

I said, I know who you are.

He said, the reason I'm calling today is to thank you for your

loyalty to Delta Airlines.

Mm-hmm.

He said to me, every time you're on an airplane, you give

our flight attendants an our.

Pilots gift cards.

Oh,

and you, they report back to me and tell me this.

And so I just wanna thank you for feeding our Delta family, and I

just want you to know if there's anything we can ever do for you,

things happen to you, please let

us know.

Well,

it just happened and Right.

Something.

Right before, that's right.

Right before you hung up the phone, I said, Mr.

Bastion.

And he said, yes.

I said, I need $20,000

and can I tell you

something?

That night he wired the money to Bishop Stove.

Oh,

sweet.

A week later.

He brought all of the family, flew them up to Lexington.

Oh, so they he knew the story.

Oh,

yes, yes.

I, I told him, uh, I told him what I needed the 20,000 for.

He flew them up.

He flew on that same plane.

All of the meat processed.

Yeah.

And we, along with the dish and the.

Uh, director of Agriculture for Kentucky, the Secretary of Agriculture,

we distributed that food to all of the four of That's amazing.

That's amazing.

Ah, what a story.

You create stories, but I,

I think, I think the thing is though, what, for me, ever

since I was a little kid.

Sitting around the dining room table on my end spot in the kitchen table.

That's what we did at dinner time.

Yeah.

We

broke bread and we shared stories and, and that's what we do at church

or that's what we do at gatherings.

Mm-hmm.

Or that's what we do at Wakes or that's what we do.

I mean that share stories.

That that is reality.

Yes.

Yes.

And you've done all kinds of work in the floods.

You've, you've, you, you are just a random.

A kindness guide.

Yes.

But I think the thing is, is through the kindness, you know, you're, you're

feeding, you're, you're nurturing.

Mm-hmm.

You are sustaining, you are consoling.

You know, I, I don't know about anyone else, but you know, when I'm

nervous, I eat, uh, when I'm, oh, yeah.

I'm sad.

I, I eat, but not as well.

I may eat things that are not really substantial.

Okay.

I know when, when I'm on a plane.

IE. And I'm waiting for a plane, ie. Uh, you know, there, there's that sense of,

there's a connection there of, of what our body craves and what we're called to be.

So if I may, father Cisco, we're gonna take a short little break because we

need to feed our souls in other ways too.

Yes, that's right.

And then we'll be back with the second half of this podcast.

Okay, everybody, welcome back.

So we're going to go back to our podcast with Father Jim and in

between I showed Father Jim that I was whistling and Oscar Meyer.

I. Wiener whistle.

That's so, that sounds a little bizarre.

Adorable.

But believe me, I know the person who drove the Oscar Meyer Wiener car, and

we'll probably have her on at some point, but we were talking about how

these cattle had actually fed not just a family in many ways after they lost

their father, but fed an entire community.

And that sort of brings us to the whole concept of the spirituality of food,

which really is so important in our lives.

And, and Father Jim, you were talking about how.

Your family came to the table and everybody knew exactly

where their place was.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, yes.

Yes.

I, I mean, I, I will tell you, even to today, our family home, you have the

seats that still have the names on them.

Of all my brothers and sisters and my mother and father.

Mm-hmm.

We didn't sit in those seats unless.

I mean, we did it.

You just did not, yeah.

And everyone had their place, and guess what?

They were comfortable with that space and that was their space.

And what was also very interesting though, we always had a plate reserved for a

guest, whether they would show or not.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

So there was an empty chair.

Yeah.

Always

interesting.

Yes.

Always.

Always.

What a family.

We didn't have an empty chair in our house, but we always knew where we sat.

And anytime my dad was out on a trip or, or you know, whatever, one other

family member, there's only four of us.

It felt odd if we sat in dad's chair.

It was uncomfortable.

We were displaced and we all had our own napkin rings that had been passed

down over the family generation.

So I totally get it.

And then you said too, uh, said, when we were talking before we started,

about the church set up as a table.

And the food is brought and tables are so significant.

Well, there are three things, at least in the Catholic church that are required

in a church for a church to be church.

Number one, the altar, the table number two, the presiders chair.

The person who is overseeing.

And number three, the platform from where the person proclaims the word.

And so a lot of churches you will see, especially in the more modern

age, had the altar in the center of the church with the pews.

All around.

All around.

And therefore it was more of a part of a communal aspect, you know,

where, where everyone is part of the meal, where everyone mm-hmm.

Receives the word everyone is part of, of the community.

Versus being at the front of the church where That's correct.

Um, I grew up in, in, in the Christian community as, as an Episcopal.

Right.

And the church physical churches is in the shape of a cross.

That's right.

Where if you look down at it, the, but the, um, the altar was

always at the front, top area.

Right.

Versus in the center.

Mm-hmm.

That's right.

Yeah.

So a very.

That's more of the traditional aspect, right, of architecture, but you know,

wi within our home, just like I said, you know, the dining room table was

only used for extremely special guests.

And extremely people of honor.

It was very interesting.

The kitchen table was a much more relaxed atmosphere and it was, you

know, we had our set places mm-hmm.

And our set behavior and, you know, it was, it was just very unique.

Let me, uh, get you to, there's past iron skillets mean a lot to me.

Oh, yes.

Uh, I have a mental picture of my father.

He didn't cook much, but he cooked cornbread in that iron skillet.

And so, you know, I keep, I get that image in my mind.

And then there was the beautiful little story, a lot of stories about Dolly

Parton, who's an iconic kindness person.

Right, right.

Yes.

And she does constant acts of kindness.

But there was, and

she say she loves to eat.

She loves to eat.

Yeah.

For as tiny as she is, I know she, she always says when she is off

of touring, she eats like a pig.

That's what she says.

That's hard.

That's part of her words, you know?

And what was very interesting, I'll say this real quick.

When I met her, and which I've met her many times, people

have given me food to give her.

And when I give them to her, I said, do you want me.

Do you want me to take this and, and give it to a shelter?

And she's like, no, I want you to take it and give it to me, and I'm putting

it on the bus and we're gonna eat it.

You know,

I could just hear her say that.

Yes.

But she, uh, she donated, apparently she is, uh, branded, uh, lodge Iron

Skillet and gave it in care, uh, for caregivers, a fundraiser for caregivers.

Yes, she did.

And, uh, yeah.

So I mean, that's just, but that's just the tip of the iceberg

of all the people that you.

Meet.

Yeah.

Well, I, I think one of the unique things, uh, people ask

me this question all the time.

They say to me, how do you meet all these people?

And how do you experience all these experiences?

And, and to be honest with you, I. I think we all do.

If we have an open mind, heart, and eyes and ears, you know,

it, it costs nothing to be kind.

It costs nothing really.

Uh, that's right.

To invite someone to your table.

And, and I, I think it, it's a most fascinating.

You know, I'm, I'm in the middle of Kansas as we record this

right now in Western Kansas.

I'm, I'm literally having flashbacks of being out in the middle of nowhere,

USA, but what's very interesting is I found a small diner here.

Oh.

And

that's where I had lunch today.

And everyone in the diner knew just when I walked in, I was not.

I, I was not from there.

Yeah.

You're not in Kansas or you are in Kansas.

That, well, it was, you know,

very interesting because everywhere head turned and people were trying to

figure out, now who is this person?

What are they doing here?

But the stories and the sharing?

The Oh, the

listening in, yes.

Of those stories.

It wasn a riot.

Oh.

Oh.

I think that,

I think that's the priest that's here visiting.

You know?

I love it.

Yeah.

Father Jim, you know, I was an owner.

We had to close a zoo.

On December 31st, we're hoping to get it back going again.

But the stories that I heard and the people came there to celebrate,

mourn, uh, laugh, cry, do all of the things in between, it was just

beautiful, uh, to, to, I loved it.

I loved owning a restaurant.

Yeah, that's right.

And,

and it's a, it, it's part of a, a whole aspect of feeding others is mm-hmm.

Is really a grace.

And feeding our soul.

Soul is a soul.

You, your soul.

You have to be open

to give as well as receive as they say, correct?

Yes.

You, you do.

Yeah.

You do.

What about a song?

What about a song?

Oh, you know, I, I will, I will, uh, um.

I will think of a song.

I, I will, does Marie

have a jingle?

No, I wish she did.

We've gotta work on that.

Let me, let me tell you what I wish she did, but I, I will, uh,

I, you know, when, when I struggle or when I'm tired out on the road.

There is a little thing that I sing in it, and this is what I sing.

I go in his world, the shall have tribulations, but be of good cheer.

Be of good cheer.

For I have overcome the world, and what it reminds me is that there is a much

higher power than what is going on today.

Yes, yes.

And that no matter what happens, you know, life goes on.

Life goes on, you know, and, and the same thing with every one of us.

We, we are called to stay in the moment and to work through it.

And if it means nourishing and feeding our soul right now, then we stop and do it.

If it means feeding and nourishing someone else's soul, then it

means we stop and do it, you know?

Ministry for me of presence is really a ministry of feeding

and gathering around the table.

And you don't need to be a minister to do so.

No.

Or a priest.

No, of

course not.

No.

Yes.

And I'm so glad that you say that.

You know what I mean?

Everyone, everyone can be a minister.

Everyone mm-hmm.

Is gifted.

I And wish I have been, lemme tell you something, I have been fed more.

By the least in our community and by the outcasts of our community, more

than those who I can, uh, name as top a celebrities and, and, and people.

Oh, that's beautiful.

That's a beautiful way to, uh, to end this show of Father Jim.

Yes.

And as Sylvia, I like to say.

Every meal has a story and every story is a feast.

And I would have to say that this show alone in our conversation

has been more than a feast delightful, and a story to live by.

And thank you so much for being our guest.

Oh, you're best welcome.