with me today is father kevin kennedy, a priest of the archdiocese and the pastor of a local hello. on but -- on behalf of the archdiocese of san francisco, welcome to mosaic. kevin kennedy, a priest of the archdiocese, pastor of a local catholic church, our lady of fatima russian catholic church. that is quite a string of adjectives. he will explain what it all means. we will ask him to help us get better acquainted with a woman who is fair to say, has proved to be the most fascinating woman in human history. she walked this earth more than 2000 years ago but is still as current as the latest news. and is very much in the news at this moment. may 13, 2017 is the 100th anniversary of the day when

three children from fatima and portugal, minding their sheep, had a conversation with a lady that said she had come from heaven to talk with them. on may 13, pope francis will visit fatima to canonize the little shepherds as saints. at the same time at home, our archdiocese has a deeper relationship with this miraculous later period does this -- with this immaculate lady. please join me and father kevin as we get to know more about mother, the mother of jesus and the mother of us all. ,,,,,,,,,,

hello and welcome back to mosaic. with me his father kevin kennedy. father kevin, you are the

pastor of a church with a fascinating name, our lady of fatima russian byzantine church in san francisco. you are a native of this area. you have been a preach of the artist ics for how many years? >> 18 years. >> i think the viewers would want to know, what is the russian byzantine catholic church and what is a priest in the archdiocese wearing this kind of garb? >> this is what the russian orthodox priest would wear in his parish and elsewhere. and the russian byzantine catholic churches were established when some russian orthodox christians sought full communion with rome in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. they were accepted into the catholic church by saint pius the tenth with the stipulation that they retain the fullness of their russian christian heritage. so i am ordained a roman catholic priest of the

archdiocese but i have patent -- faculties as pastor of this parish to celebrate in the russian byzantine rite and to serve in the community that has inherited the original union movement from the 20th century. many of the parishes that began in st. petersburg and moscow were later destroyed during soviet communist persecution. so those who could escape from the soviet union did so in various parts of the world. often entrusted to the jesuits, the jesuit order, the society of jesus, often trained as jesuits in rome to train russian byzantine catholic christians.'s our parish, our lady of fatima, was actually a jesuit parish from its inception

in 1950. >> let me ask you this, if i have it right. you are a catholic church out of the church of rome. you practice the byzantine rights from latin rights, you do services in english. >> we moved from slavonic to english about 23 years ago. >> if i wanted to fulfill my sunday obligation, receive the sacraments, confession, eucharist at your church, that is perfectly all right. >> like in any other catholic church, the liturgy will be quite different. we are a parish of the archdiocese because the number of russian byzantine catholic churches throughout the world is so small that they have been entrusted to the care of the local latin ordinary, which of course and our case is the archbishop of san francisco. and he has appointed me to be pastor of his parish. i'm the first diocesan priest to hold that title. most of the pastors were jesuits in the past. we are fully catholic.

and so to receive the eucharist and the sacrament of confession, you are receiving it from a catholic priest and your stubbly -- sunday obligation is fulfilled if you would like to attend. in fact, it is encouraged for roman catholics to familiarize themselves with eastern catholics and to at least once in their life, attend a liturgy in the eastern and in our case byzantine tradition. >> i have done so. i find it very interesting. the service is beautiful emma homilies are very good. and they are delivered by you. i have seen your work. it is very good. let me ask you about the name of this, our lady of fatima. >> the parish was formed in the early 1950s at a time when there was a great deal of focus on the operations at fatima, particularly since the

concerned to some degree, russia and the future of russia and humanity. a great focus and benevolence on the part of our lady concerning russia specifically. this was of course during the soviet era. so a russian byzantine catholic church was named after the mother of god with that title, our lady of fatima. so that was a particular focus for the russian apostolate at that time. >> that is fascinating. let me talk about mary. as i said in my opening, she is very much in the news. if we can show the photograph that i myself took. i was shopping and safeway the other day. i turned around. there is the magazine rack. and who do we see on the magazine rack along with oprah and the national enquirer and everything else. it is mary.

this publication turned out to be a reissue of a life magazine special issue from 1996. it has been updated and is very beautifully done. if i can show my next slide, these are current, new books about mary. we have life magazine. we have some very interesting books from the local press. i have been reading about mary and finding her incredibly fascinating. i want to ask you to help me and all of us understand, who is she, what does she do and please take it away. >> i remember when that life magazine cover first came out in 1996. and there were other articles in the year to thousand -- 2000 and the jubilee year, christianity's jubilee year. she is a jewish woman. she is venerated by christians. she is acknowledged and esteemed by muslims. she is mother, there is something about universal

motherhood that appeals to people of various faith traditions in our common humanity. there is a need, i think within our psychological and spiritual makeup, for what she embodies, for what she represents and brings to people, which is the love of god. that heart of god expressed especially through the heart of a mother, a mother's love. >> i think as pope francis said recently, without mary, there is no christ. without mary, no jesus. mary is our path to jesus. interesting. and we will talk more about that. we will show some icons of mary that are very important in the russian is in teen catholic world. we will explain her powers and her efficacy. please join us when we return. ,,,,,,,,,,,,

hello and welcome back. we are talking with father kevin kennedy about mary, the blessed virgin, the mother of god. father kennedy, please tell us what we need to know about mary's role in christian salvation, the plan of salvation . >> mary is all about the incarnation, which is the enforcement of god. god becoming one of his own creation. in classical franciscan theology and certainly in the greek, byzantine christian theology, the incarnation is seen as broader than just redemptive, just salvation. it is seen as the original creative plan of god. the whole purpose of creation is that god would create, in order to bring creation to himself. in order to bridge the gap

between the divine and the human. god would become part of his own creation and would be in flesh and would join with us and allow us to participate bike race and god's own life. not by nature but bike race to be partakers and the divine teachings of saint peter. st. paul teaches us when he says all was created for him, for the incarnation, for christ. always created for him. he is before all else that is. in god's original creative plan, it is the point of all creation. that that creation would be united to god and it would be an act of god becoming one with his own creation. >> this has been a mystery that i learned in 3rd grade but never could understand. >> nobody understands it. >> but a beautiful image. understanding of what our human

life is for, is to move to a god and to become sharers and god's nature. >> right. >> because he is being and he is loved. and we are something else. we are damaged. >> but he takes that damage and he unites it to himself to bring healing and enlightenment about life's true purpose and ultimately to bring about a transformation into himself, threw himself to god's own life by the power of his spirit. so healing and transformation is the whole work of god's grace within our souls. >> and mary is -- what would you call her? >> she makes it all possible. >> when there was a bit of a decline in mary and the devotion in the 1970s especially . i remember someone asked a jesuit theologian, why does this happen

? and he says because we have made of theincarnation and abstraction. abstract concept. and father said, abstractions don't need a mother. so she keeps the incarnation real. there is no earthly father in christian belief of course. so she is the one who performs his heart from her own heart. that blood is hers. that sacred humanity joined to his divinity. he is the only begotten sun of the father. but he is the only son of the ever virgin mary. only the mother of the lord and god the father can say, this is my beloved son. >> it is interesting if you have protestant trends or those who follow in a different way. they might think mary is wrongly worshiped or venerated or a distraction from god or jesus. i think you have some icons that can show us --

>> an icon of the sign with doesn't -- which is in ancient russian icon. it is a visual that depicts everything i'm speaking of an theological terms. it depicts it visually. you see that the lord, and his divinity is in mary. it is in her heart, and her womb. saint augustine said she was conceived first in her heart and in her womb. saint john of damascus, and early christian byzantine father and doctor of the church , who died in the early eighth century, said the same thing. that she is the christ bear, the god bearer. because this is the one who is god and flesh -- in flesh for us. she is not digressing from are taking away from or in competition with christ.

he is in her. otherwise the incarnation isn't real. there is another make-believe christ other than the real christ. he comes to us in and through her. she is opening her arms and that jester shows us that she is praying. she is worshiping. she is not herself god but the mother of the one who is god made flesh for us. >> and let me show you the next slide. i think it is called, mary help for sorrow. >> this is the russian icon entitled, joy to all who sorrow. >> it is quite beautiful. this looks like her enduring career as a mother with children all around her saying, mom i need this or that. is that what i'm seeing? >> that is exactly what it is. this is the icon

of the joy of all who sorrow. the full title is, joy of joys, unexpected joy, joy who sorrow. it is the title of the holy version russian orthodox church. we have the same icon in our sacristy in our lady of fatima. it depicts people recognizing this maternal heart. this maternal role of our lady, that she brings us to god. because god chose to come to us in jesus in and through her. so she has a role in this relationship of love with all of those who have been formed by christ. she is a mother. she listens to our positions. she doesn't take the place of christ. but in a mother's role, she prays for us, protects us, strengthens us, in this union of love with her son. she brings us into that circle.

not outside of it. in the same relationship with love. >> in our next segment, we will talk about her relationship to these shepherd children at fatima and what that all means. please rejoin us. [piano playing slow tune]

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let's talk for a moment about what is going on currently. the operations at fatima in 1917 -- this is the 100th anniversary. two shepherd children are being canonized as saints. and preferences is visiting fatima next week to canonize the children. talk to us about the meaning of fatima, its meaning and purpose. >> fatima is an event that took place beginning may 13th 1917 in portugal. it is a prophetic event.

it is a richly symbolic event. it brings us back to the icon, the joy of all who sorrow. our lady comes at a time when the world was about to be plunged into sorrow with two world wars. with those who suffered under nazi -ism and soviet communism. the wars that have continued and the divisions within humanity. and she comes as a messenger of god. she comes as a messenger of pea- sized. she comes to -- a messenger of pea-sized -- she brings us into that radiant circle of gods love. she directs us to her heart because that is a place where the lord's hart was born. and we have a union between the

divine and the human. here we have, a means for the grace. won for us by christ, to be shared by the power of the spirit. our lady is, in a special way, a spirit bearer. they are her graces, the graces of god. but she listens to her children. and by bringing them to her heart, she brings them in a special way to that intimacy with the heart of god. with the graces that the world needs for peace, reconciliation, conversion and changing our lives from things that are self-destructing to things that are life-giving, especially spiritual for us. she tries to awaken us to the same message that begins the gospel and the lord's historical ministry. repent, the kingdom of god is at hand. and repentance, not in a

negative sense but in a positive sense of changing direction, awakening to god's presence in the world and god's love in our hearts and moving toward him instead of away from him. that is the central message of fatima. >> let me ask you this. the archdiocese is in -- there will be the rosary rally and the consecration will occur. currently, we are trying to categorize and learn about this and what it means. perhaps you can explain to us what it would mean to consecrate ourselves to the virgin mary. >> consecration in its original understanding is simply to dedicate and trust, devote, submit -- surrender and love oneself to god. and mary in a particular way is the vehicle or the vessel for his presence as i said earlier, regarding the incarnation. the is the -- she is the ark of the covenant.

so one of the first saints who spoke of consecration was actually the byzantine father of the church to whom i referred earlier, st. john of damascus. and a homily given for the feast of the assumption of the mother of god. he spoke and used the word, consecrate. may we come to consecrate ourselves to her, and entrust ourselves to her. and if we do so, we are in the radiant circle in her heart. where christ jesus is found. >> let me ask you this. it is a pastoral question. i am a catholic. until i began studying up on the virgin mary and the consecration, i don't know what my relationship with her was. how would you advise me or any catholic who wants to have eight deeper truer relationship with her, what can i do? >> the same way you would

with anyone. you talk to them, you accompany them, you share with them. she is more real. she is full of life, love and joy. she is the joy of all who sorrow. she listens and she accompanies and she awakens something within us that yearns to find meaning and value. and most of all, love within our hearts. talk to her. prayers. simply a heart-to-heart conversation with god who we know loves us. we can also play for the saints. she is the queen of all of the saints and the one who, with maternal mediation, brings us into the circle of love in her heart, which is where the lord is found. she doesn't distract from christ. she brings us to him in an immediate and powerful and very fast way. because when you say mary, she says jesus. >> yes. many of her icons show her

pointing the way to jesus. >> that is one of the great icons. >> we have in our communication department, a webpage in which you can get to know mary and find out about the consecration. i found in those webpages, that she opens up a world of beauty and meaning. if you go to those webpages and look at those, you will find the world's greatest art and music featuring mary. she has inspired this kind of devotion and glory. let me show our last slide of the day. it is a very famous icon. it is evidently the oldest mary icon in the world, dating perhaps as early as the second century. this is somewhere in rome. it is a piece that has been preserved. all the painting on wood. let me read to you what the author says about this. he says, even at first glance, it tells you that she is more than a cracked partially warm

eden portrait. when you have looked into the almond shape eyes of this woman , you will never forget them. they will stay with you for the rest of your life. for these eyes penetrate deep into the viewer's hart and no his most deepest thoughts and hopes. thank you for joining us on this program about the blessed virgin mary. >> thank you. how far should pure alpine spring water

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welcome to bay sunday. i'm your host, kenny choi. cooking up change. a national competition where high school culinary students compete and make food that is healthy, has nutritional guidelines and taste good as well. here with some winning dish and -- dishes is david eisenberg from oakland and susan poindexter. welcome to bay sunday. >> thank you for having us. good morning. >> david, talk more about this program. >> the program we started is new and just started this year. the idea behind this is to give high school students an opportunity to really experience what it is like to work in a restaurant.