The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Saints: The Spiritual Mutual Fund (Part 2)

Episode Date: June 6, 2025

The saints are always eager to intercede for us, for they understand the struggles we experience on earth. Jeff encourages us to identify a group of saints who resonate most deeply with our needs and vocations. He shares his own 'posse' of saints, including St. Joseph, St. Augustine, St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. Francis, and St. John Paul II, and explains how each has significantly impacted his life. Snippet from the Show The saints have a fraternal concern for your weakness. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together and living as activated disciples. This is show 433, Saints, the Spiritual Mutual Fund, Part 2. Welcome to the show again, my fellow member of the Spiritual Mutual Fund, the Communion of Saints. good to be with you. Boy, we had a great show last week and just a pleasure to talk about the communion of saints and the whole issue of us as Catholics having a relationship with the people who have gone before us and asking for their, not only their intercession, but their example, their example of their life for us to live our lives today. Why not copy some of the great people

who have gone before us, right? What a great thing. So, uh, if you, If you want the show notes, again this week, if you want those show notes, and we have a lot on this one, including a list of saints that you might just take a look at and see if there's some of the saints that might be of some benefit to you as part of this mutual fund, this common fund, as the catechism calls it. We call it the kingdom of God, the communion of saints. But if you do want any of this, you can get it free. All you got to do is text my name, Jeff Kaven's one word.

Cuffcavens, and text it to the number 33777. Quite easy. 3377. We'll get you on board there. All right. Well, last week we had a wonderful time talking about the communion of saints, and we were looking at the catechism of the Catholic Church, specifically paragraph 946 and 956. We're very powerful. In 946, it mentioned that after confessing the Holy Catholic Church, the Apostles' Creed adds the communion of saints. And the church teaches that those in heaven are not cut off from us, but actually have a relationship with us. Very, very powerful. And I encourage you to go back. If you didn't hear last week, you might want to go back and listen to that because that really sets a foundation for this whole topic of the relationship we have with people who have

gone before us, what their purpose is. Can they hear us? Are they aware of us? do they have a role to play in our lives? And a couple of the quotes in paragraph 956 that talks about the intercession of the saints, I'll just read that paragraph because it's at the end of the paragraph that we have a great quote from St. Dominic and from St. Teresa of Lissue. But listen to this, paragraph 956,

the intercession of the saints being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole church more firmly in holiness. They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus. So, get this, by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped. You see, the saints have a fraternal, that's family, a fraternal concern, for your weakness, and that fraternal concern makes themselves available for intercession, which you should take advantage of, you really should, and you will be greatly helped as a result

of it. That is in paragraph 956. I'll put that in the show notes again this week. I put it in there last week, but I'm going to do it again. But this paragraph ends with, I think it's one of the greatest quotes ever about the communion of saints, and it's from a giant in the church, and that is St. Dominic. I have a grandson by that name. And I think about people like the Dominican sisters, sister John Dominic, Ann Arbor, and Mother Assumta, Sister Andrew, and the great group of sisters there. And of course, the Dominicans in Nashville were just so blessed, aren't we? So listen to what St. Dominic said about this relationship between heaven and earth. He said this.

And he was dying, by the way. He was dying and his brothers were around him. and he said, do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death, and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life. All right. That's a saint right there. That's a giant in the church in his last words before entering heaven. And then St. Trezzole said, and this is very telling too,

I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth. well what do you mean i mean you get to heaven you can forget about us you did your thing you got your award you're there you're having a good time you got a mansion built for you why think about us now well because we are a communion of saints we share all good things with each other you don't go to heaven and suddenly get selfish do you i've been studying this for a while and i've never read that no you become even more more generous when you get you get you get to heaven. You become even more like Jesus when you get to heaven. And that is entering into the intercession of the Father for souls on earth. No wonder St. Torres said this. No wonder St. Dominic

had this insight. Isn't it amazing? Well, anyway, I want to, I want to change gears here this week, and I want to talk to you about my posse. I want to talk to you about my crew, if you will, or members of the spiritual mutual fund, where we have a mutual fund, a common fund. The catechism uses that phrase, a common fund. And I like that so much. So where did I come up with that idea? Well, I'll tell you where I came up with that idea. I was talking to a priest a few years ago prior to his passing, Father Bill Bear,

companions of Christ. and he passed away. He was pastor of Transfiguration Church in the Twin Cities. And we were having lunch one day, and we were just having this discussion. We had a common relationship with Bishop Paul Dudley, who, man, if there's a guy to open a cause there. But we both were really students of his. And Father Bear said to me at lunch one day, he's talking about the communion of saints. He said, Jeff, he said, when it comes to the communion of saints, don't go.

wide and shallow. In other words, don't know a little bit of trivia about hundreds of them. Don't go wide and shallow. Go narrow and deep. Narrow and deep. What did he mean by that? It meant, yeah, you can know a little trivia, you know, trivial pursuit in the kingdom of God. That's true. But if you really want to be effective and you really want to draw all you can from the people who have gone before us, then you need to be intentional about it. You need to choose. You need to think about it, pray about it, discern. What do you need?

What's your vocation? What has God given you at this point in your life? And then develop a relationship with this body of Christ, these members of the spiritual mutual fund, the common good. You need to develop a relationship with them. Well, what if they don't like me? get over it they are in heaven and they are here in spirit in a way and by that i mean in intentionality and praying for us and aware of us we covered this last week but uh some people they've got this

idea that you know nobody wants me and i'm not popular and i don't know but you got to kind of get over that when heaven is is giving you a welcome map for prayer and intercession and say i you know look at this for the first time in my life i've got really really really, really superstars that want to be with me and pray with me. This is amazing. What a gift of grace that God has given me. So what did I do to put together my posse or you might call it a crew? I remember one time, by the way, I went into a store. This is a long time ago. Kevin Garnett played basketball for the Timberwolves, Minnesota Timberwolves, NBA. And I was in this store and then he came walking in.

He came walking into the small store. But it wasn't just him. There were seven or eight people surrounding him. Now, he has a house out by where I'm at in Minnesota. He did. And he went to Boston after that. I don't know where he lives now. But back then he came into the store.

About seven or eight people came with him. They were his posse. It seemed like everywhere he went, they were there. They were there with him. That's the idea there, right? That's the idea. So when we talk about the word posse, it's strictly in a classic Western type of idea, I think, you know, in my mind at least, where you've got the sheriff's going to go out

and round up people and he brings his posse with him. But we're going to baptize that, raise it to a new level. And that is we're going to have a group of people around us in our life that we can look to their lives as models and also ask for intercession. Okay. So I don't want to get caught up in all of the terminology. Crew, posse, my gang, my boys, whatever you want to call. call it, but have it. So how do you go about choosing if you're going to go narrow and deep,

who are you going to choose? Well, here's what I would recommend. Number one, pray, pray, and really ask the Lord to help you in your friendships. Not only here on earth, but I'm talking about the communion of saints, help you in forging these new relationships with people who were quite successful in the kingdom of God here on earth. You're not looking for magic here. You're not looking for people to do your bidding. You're not looking for people who have just pure utilitarian benefit. You know, I lost something. Go to St. Anthony. I mean, St. Anthony's a real person who, just like you, had feelings on earth and had a goal, had ups and downs and everything else. It's not a spiritual ATM. That's what I'm getting at there. These are real people who

really lived on the real earth with real problems and real success and they are really in heaven and really available to you and so pray ask the lord to help you in this choosing of you know who can you develop a relationship with number two i think you have to look at your vocation are you married who would help you in prayer if if you're married or you have children so your vocation is your vocation. It's very, very important, and your choices mean something. They can benefit you greatly. That's important. And so the third thing, number one is pray. Number two, your vocation. Number three, what are your challenges and your weaknesses? On the door at Delphi in Greece, know thyself. It doesn't mean know your strength. It was actually meant know your weaknesses.

Know who you are. Be honest about it. You're struggling with a particular sin, you're struggling with a particular vice in your life? You lack a particular virtue. Get around people who are strong in these areas. So what are your challenges in life? Because you're going to look to their example and their wisdom and how they navigated life. And having a relationship with a saint, again, is not symbolic but necessary. They have what you need. And you are looking for help in your life. So you're going to want to pick out some people, and then you start to investigate their writings, their prayers, particular devotions, and maybe they have a medal. I have five in my crew, Posse, and I have this necklace on my end table next to my bed, and I have all of their medals on there. And it's just a

reminder to me. Sometimes I just put it in my pocket. Sometimes I wear it. Before I go to bed, I see it. And I'm remind when I get up in the morning, I usually the very first thing I say when I get up in the morning is, Jesus, good morning, I'm ready to go on this adventure with you today. I'm living as a disciple. And then sometimes I will just ask for the prayers real quick from my posse. So those are all important. And I, oh, by the way, I also have in my library a section of my library shelves that are devoted to my posse. So I have, well, I'm not going to tell you who. That's after the break. But I have a section in my little library at home, in my office, for every one of these men and women on my list. We'll talk about my list and investigate yours a little bit more right after this.

You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Hey, guys, my name is Father Mike Schmitz. I'm so excited to tell you about new cities and new dates for the parables tour. We're going to cities in both Michigan and Texas. If you're interested in getting tickets, you can go to Accenturepress.com slash Father Mike tour for access to tickets and more information. Tickets go on sale. It's Thursday, May 22nd.

God bless. Welcome back. Talking today about Saints, the spiritual mutual fund, the true spiritual mutual fund. We have all things in common. Common good. It's a common fund, the Catechism says. And you can have a lot of fun with the common fund. So it's time now for me to reveal my

posse, these are the people that Father Bear, he told me, go narrow and deep, don't go wide and shallow. Not going to be a much benefit for you other than trivial pursuit games. But if you go narrow and deep, you're going to have a bigger family, more meaningful family. You're going to have better examples for your own life. This isn't a game. This is real life. You need them.

You need the power of the Holy Spirit to navigate difficulties of life. so let me give them to you number one and this is taking into consideration prayer my own challenges weaknesses and vocation number one saint joseph and by the way the blessed virgin mary has to be on every list so you can't name that okay that's a given so but i do have st joseph why well st joseph was a husband he was a stepfather to jesus he had a responsibility to lead the family. I need that in my life. So I have a devotion to St. Joseph, and my confirmation name is St. Joseph. I'm Jeffrey Scott, Joseph, Havens. So St. Joseph is very, very near and dear to me. As an example, I need his intercession. He held together the holy families during really difficult,

difficult times. And these are definitely difficult times that we're living in. And I need his intercession. I need his help and his example, St. Joseph, that's number one. And I know, by the way, the God Squad in Canada, in Calgary, Sean Lynn, he leads that. They have this incredible devotion to St. Joseph all across Canada, all the way into Montreal, the oratory. And I wrote my Harley Davidson there a few years ago with a group of guys, my motorcycle posse. And we rode all the way from Minneapolis to Montreal and motorcycles and we just basked in the North American martyrs and

St. Joseph. Oh, it was amazing. But just a shout out to Sean Lynn in Canada and the God Squad. Pray for them. They are taking Canada by storm. The men, that is. St. Joseph is helping them. Number two, I'm a

Bible teacher. I've been a Bible teacher since I've been 18, 19 years old. 20 years old. And so St. Augustine, is in my posse and has been for years and years and years now. And when you know, we have Pope Leo, an Augustinian Pope. This is amazing. And so I'm so excited because I know quite a bit about St. Augustine, might not know as much as you do or Pope Leo, but I know a lot about St. Augustine. And I'm figuring that with Pope Leo, we're going to learn a lot more about

St. Augustine. So, yay, for me and you, if you have them in your posse, but I'm really looking forward to it. You know, St. Augustine was so good at teaching the word of God, and he was very transparent about his own life, too, as evidenced by the confessions, which Pope Leo, by the way, opened up with the other day. And so St. Augustine is really big in my life. And before I teach, oftentimes I'll say St. Augustine, pray for me. Pray for me. And if St. Jerome and St. Augustine are getting along, I'll bring them both in. Joking about that. But in real life, they did have a little, a little bit of tension between them at times. St. Augustine. Number three, number three, in this world that we live in today, this is a lady.

The world that we're living in today can be very difficult to navigate, especially with marketing and all of the emphasis on beauty and looks and social media and likes and all that. Well, man, I need something to counter all that. I don't want to be like that. I don't want to just feel myself attracted to those who are successful, those who are influential, those who are beautiful, which is a natural attraction. You can't fool yourself there. So St. Teresa of Calcutta, better known as, you got it, Mother Teresa, Mother Teresa. Now, why would a man from the Twin Cities be attracted?

to a nun who left Albania and went to Calcutta and won the Nobel Peace Prize. Well, simply put, she came up with a phrase that caught me years ago, years ago. And I've never forgot it. And it's a constant reminder to do what she does. She went to the poorest of the poor and she loved them, embraced them, held them, and even fed them and comforted them until they died. That has always been an inspiration to me. But she said this.

She said that she looks for Jesus in the most hideous disguises. She sees Jesus in the most hideous disguises. And that is those who are ill, dying, perhaps dirty, diseased, lonely. She looks for him there. And I remember a conversation I had with Father Benedict Groschelle years ago when I was working at EWTN with Life on the Rock. He said to me, when you talk to Mother Teresa,

the president of the United States could walk by and she wouldn't even blink. She'd keep looking at you and talking to you 100% of her energy and her love. That that's just the way she was. And what an example she is. What an example. So she's my third. Number four, I have had this love since I was a kid growing up and my parents had a statue of this

member of my posse all growing up. This saint has a knack for simplicity, a knack for living the simple life. And it's something I need. I know that because of my personality. I know that because of the times we're living in. I need the help of St. Francis. I really do. Isn't it interesting? our last two popes now, Pope Francis and Pope Leo, got St. Francis and St. Augustine. So he is the one, growing up, I came home every day and saw St. Francis right there by the front door. Every day.

That statue is so weather-worned. And I think we went through two of them growing up because we didn't take St. Francis out of the rain. And it just sort of kind of lost his face after a while there because we were with him every day, seeing him every day. What an example. just that having that statue outside of our house. At one point it was in the front door, another point it was in the backyard.

But look at the power of that. It drew me. And so he has become one of my posse that every day I'm asking for his intercession. And number five, oh, wow. You know, I was so blessed back in 1995 all the way to, I think it was 2002. two. I was able to work at EWTN. I started Life on the Rock. I was Mother Angelica's substitute on her show for many years. And I was privileged to cover Pope John Paul II around the world, World Youth Day and other engagements. Like I can St. Louis. I'll never forget that covering him

in St. Louis. And a year before he passed away, his secretary informed me that now was the time we can do this and I always wanted to have a private audience with him but every time I was covering him there was like four million other people around you know that they wanted him too and so it wasn't conducive to sitting around fire and chatting and so a year before he passed away I got the message that it was time we could do it and we put in a letter and wouldn't you know it we got it and I'll never forget that night when we were told by the concierge at the Michael Angelo hotel in Rome. You got a letter from Vatican. Oh, wow. And went over there? Sure enough. 7 o'clock that night. Unusual, by the way. Usually it was in the morning. Seven o'clock that night,

B, it's a Swiss guard. Couldn't believe it. Oh, man, we went. The whole family got all dolled up, and my wife said she was more nervous than the day we got married. And we went in, and there he was. and we got to just kneel around him and talk and we received a blessing from him and he gave us all rosaries, tremendous pictures for the family. I was just, you know, I can't say enough. But the reason that I have him down, part of it is like, I met him. I met a saint. Isn't that something?

And my daughters have the picture with a pope holding their chin and staring into their eyes, just beautiful. But the reason that he's so important to me is that he was a pope who spoke to the world that was opposed to the gospel. And he did it with boldness. And I'm finding myself more and more in situations, whether it's news interviews or public addresses or whatever it might be, that I have to stand up for the truth and be bold at the same time. I've got to be loving. And he's the model for me. And so that's St. John Paul, the great. Oh, wow. He's in my posse. And there's a lot of reading there, a lot of good reading. So that's my posse. Now, I also, I also,

ask for the intercession from my childhood pastor who passed away a few years ago, Bishop Paul Dudley out of Minnesota. He is one that I frequently will ask to pray for me. And now that this last year, both my father and my mother passed away, I naturally would ask them to pray for me, to pray for me, believing that they are with the Lord. So that's my posse. Now, I'm going to ask you, what about your posse? What are your needs? What's your vocation? What are your challenges? What are your weaknesses in your life? What could you use? I'm going to put in the show notes a list of 100 saints and what they are known for as far as their patronages. These are the saints that are over particular areas. They seem to be

effective, interested, influential. Now, someday I'm going to have a show just on how that whole thing gets going, and I have a guest lined up for that. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that sometime here in the future. But for example, you have, and I'm looking at my list right now, well, the famous one is lost items, right? You lost your phone, St. Anthony of Padua. There's some other ones here. St. George for soldiers, nurses, St. Catherine of Siena, eye diseases, St. Clair of Assisi. Soldiers, we've got St. Ignatius of Loyola, educators as well. St. Schla Nuns, get this, storms, and education. St. Padre Pio, he is a patron saint of confessors,

civil defense, stress relief. So if you're struggling with stress, St. Padre Pio might be part of your posse. We were out there last year, out there at St. Giovanni Rotunda, and it was so beautiful out there. Okay, what else do we have here? St. Teresa Vavala, headaches. And why that? I don't know. I don't know. But I'm just saying, investigate these things. Musicians, St. Cecilia, singers. I got blind eye problems. St. Lucy. St. Blaze for throat problems. Beekers. St. Ambrose. He apparently was into beekeeping. And you had librarians, St. Jerome, Cooks, St. Lawrence, politicians, St. Thomas Moore.

Polycarp, ear ailments. I said ear ailments. You have social justice, St. Martin, Dupor, indigenous peoples, St. Juan Diego, mystics, St. John of the Cross. Animals, St. Anthony the Great. It just list goes on here. I'm going to put them all in the show notes for you.

Farmers, St. Isidore the farmer. Widows, St. Hedwig. Archaeologists, that's my wife. St. Helena. It's Constantine's mom. Teachers, St. Angela, and Edith Stein philosophers. It just goes on and I. We have an embarrassment of riches in the church, don't we? So I hope that helps you this week, last week and this week, in learning a little bit more about the communion of saints. And, hey, have some fun with it, too. Get together with your kids. Do this with your kids. Ask them, what do you kids need? Who's your favorite saints? Let's start learning about them. Let's make them part of the

a family, shall we? They're not just theological concepts. They're family members, part of the common good, part of the ultimate spiritual mutual fund in the world. And dividends, man, they're eternal. Let's pray in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen, Lord Jesus. Thank you so much for your love and your concern for us and dying for us. Lord, we want to do nothing but to make you happy. We want to bring joy to you. We want to thank you for what you have done for us. We want to do your will. And, Lord, you have given us such a rich, rich pool of treasures and grace in the communion of saints.

Help us, Lord, in developing our relationship with our brothers and sisters who are also serving you, even at this moment in heaven. In Jesus' name, amen. The Father's Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Remember the show notes. Got all those saints in there for you. Have a great week. Thank you.