WEBVTT

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

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of the Holy Spirit. Amen. What are we doing here

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today if not proclaiming, celebrating, confirming

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the victory of God in us? that he is saving us.

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I say that to begin a reflection on this gospel,

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because this gospel accounts for us, it relates

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for us, really the truly glorious, loving, wise,

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powerful care, the compassion and care. that

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Jesus has for everything. Absolutely everything.

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We say in the Creed that we believe in one God,

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the Father Almighty, and one Lord Jesus Christ,

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Son of God, begotten of the Father before all

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ages, light of light, true God of true God, begotten,

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not made, by whom all things were made. This

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reference is to Jesus, by whom and for whom all

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things were made. The word gospel, I've told

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my catechism class this a hundred times, I've

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probably told you half that. The word gospel

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means the good news of victory, the good news

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of an enslavement to powers, principalities,

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rulers of darkness. enslavement of all kinds

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against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in

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the heavenly places, as St. Paul says in Ephesians.

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It ends destruction and death. That's what the

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word gospel means. It's not a book. The gospel

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book is the account of that victory, which we

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are sharing now. And the proof of that to me

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is this story, because that's not us. That man

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living naked among the tombs. That's not us.

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So we sing on Holy Saturday, don't we? Praise

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you the Lord and supremely exalt him unto the

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ages. And gloriously has he been glorified. We're

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the body of Christ, brothers and sisters. It's

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his body. He has changed us. So that united and

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joined to him, we share in this victory over

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death. We don't need to be afraid of that anymore.

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Or the demons. The church is reminding us today

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in this gospel, which we hear twice at least,

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but sometimes three times in the year. Three

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times you hear about this man who is possessed.

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Archbishop Benjamin always used to make reference.

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He says, we have cheese fair Sunday. We have

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meat fair Sunday. And we have Swine Sunday. And

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today is Swine Sunday. Today the church is reminding

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us what great things God has done for us. And

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so we're gathering for liturgy to thank him.

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The word Eucharist means Thanksgiving. That's

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why we're here to thank God. To proclaim the

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good news to ourselves, to each other, and to

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those outside that door about what As St. Luke

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said at the end, quoting Jesus, what great things

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God has done for us. If you were asked, can you

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enumerate those things that God has done for

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you? Those great things. Why you are here. We

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say we're illumined at baptism. Can you give

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thanks to God for that? Can you tell someone?

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about that holy illumination, if you were asked

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to give a witness, testimony for what Jesus has

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done for us, illumined us, opened our eyes, first,

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of course, not to everybody else's sins, but

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to our own sins, and then to the cleansing and

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the forgiveness and the light and the love of

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his presence. We may not dwell in that joy all

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the time, but we should be able to recount something

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of it. I don't need to tell you the whole story

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that we just heard. You just heard it, and as

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I said, we hear it three times a year, most years,

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mostly twice, I guess. This is a deliberate choice

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by the church, by the way. This isn't just part

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of... Well, we've got this gospel that just comes

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around again, and oh gosh, do I have to preach

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on those pigs again? No. This is deliberate.

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The church gives us this account of this horrible,

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horrible thing, which I hope nobody ever has

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to see. But I want to say about, since I'm not

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going to tell you the whole story, you just heard

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it, but I do want to say this. When Jesus asks

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the name of that man, and he's not asking because

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he doesn't know. He's asking to show his disciples.

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This is the creepiest moment. Halloween's got

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nothing on this. What is your name? The man says,

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Legion, because he had thousands of demons in

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him. and he didn't know himself or his own name

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anymore. What is your name, Legion? He's completely

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stripped of reason and understanding, completely

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stripped of freedom and personality by these

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evil, evil spirits. It's embarrassing for many

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Christians to admit that there is demonic power.

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But it's true that there is such a thing. This

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man is broken into a thousand pieces. He is the

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image of what the devil seeks for each and every

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one of us. Destruction. The destruction of this

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world. He's an example of the culture of death

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and violence. The desecration of the human being

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made in the image of God. Jesus commands the

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demons to go into the pigs. Actually, the demons

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say, what have you to do with us, Jesus? Why

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have you come so soon before the time? Are you

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here to torment us? Because they know their ultimate

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fate. And they ask Jesus, and he... lets them.

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This is not a negotiation. He lets them go into

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the pigs. St. Ephraim the Syrian writes this

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very kind of humorous meditation on that. He

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says, O wise pigs, they could not endure the

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wickedness of the demons, whereas the demoniac

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endured them, and the people of the Gadarenes

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coexisted with them, and we ourselves tolerate

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fallen passions. And we ourselves tolerate sins

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within ourselves, which is our own sort of spiritual

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craziness. We ought to be, says St. Ephraim,

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more like the pigs and root out the evil within

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us. After all, the kingdom of heaven is taken

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by force and the violent bear it away. But we

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have to say, brothers and sisters, As baptized,

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chrismated, communing, confessing Orthodox Christians,

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we have the Lord's victory, not as some historical

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event, but within us. This is something that

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dwells within us. His victory over death, the

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cross, the tomb, the resurrection, the ascension

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into heaven, the gift of Pentecost, the demon's

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power over us in the church, says many, many

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of the saints. May be great for those outside,

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but for us, it's no more than a counterfeit $100

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bill. It looks impressive, and it might be used

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for terrible means, but it has no backing. I

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had a rough draft of this sermon in which I started

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a rant about society. Obviously... You don't

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need to hear a politician's rant. You need to

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hear the gospel. So I'm not going to let this

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sermon become a tirade. Let's just ask ourselves,

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what is the church? If the church gives us this

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gospel three times, what does the church tell

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me today, this very day, right now, practically

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speaking, what I need to know? Yes? First, God's

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power over evil and death. That incident there

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in Gadara, the Lord would destroy all the power

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of Satan on the cross and in the tomb and in

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the grave and in his glorious resurrection. Why

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else would we show a fresco with the locks and

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the bars of Hades being broken apart if he didn't

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do it? Number one. So yes, there's that to remind

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ourselves. Yes, it's because he has concern and

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love and care and compassion for each of his

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creatures, every single creature, especially

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the human, because we are in the image and likeness

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of God. And this is where I think we have to

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focus for a moment. The Lord's labor was to heal.

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He was also humble in this story. He left the

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people who didn't want him there. Who's worse

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off, that man with the demons or those people

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who don't want Jesus Christ in their life? It's

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amazing how people reacted to the greatest miracle

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they had ever seen. God created us so that we

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would know him, but he will not force us to follow.

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His commandments. He won't. He's gentle. He's

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good. He weeps. He follows us. Sometimes he steps

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in front of us. Sometimes he sends us difficulties

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so we'll be reminded we are not eternal. He will

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indeed leave us if we ask him. But it's here

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in this kind of leaving sense that I want to

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say just one thing. That we might get overshadowed.

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We might think that counterfeit hundred dollar

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bill is real. We might forget that we have been

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clothed like that man in the story. What's it

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say? Then they went out to see what had happened

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and came to Jesus and found the man from whom

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the demons had departed sitting at the feet of

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Jesus clothed and in his right mind that's the

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baptism image this is what we want for himself

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now it may seem trivial but how do we how do

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we let that goodness and that holiness and that

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purity that right -mindedness and our baptismal

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robe stay cleansed how do we do that sounds trivial

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but i'll tell you i woke up this morning the

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alarm went off And the thought went into my head,

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Father Nicholas is going to be here today. You

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can stay in bed. Don't worry about it. I got

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up and I said, no, I'm going to church. Do you

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find yourself doing that with prayer? Easy to

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do. Put something in its place. To forget. That

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God comes first in the day. To keep the commandments,

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we have our own vision of what's going to make

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us happy, what's going to be fulfilling for us,

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what's going to be good, relationships and so

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forth. But we put them before Jesus Christ, especially

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when we're young. And we lose that moment when

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if we hit when the iron's hot like that, the

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love of God will just heat up within us. And

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we will have joy. And the kind that St. Paul

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says we can't even imagine because it hasn't

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entered into our mind what joy and goodness God

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has for us, for those who love him. Do we find

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ourselves, again, these are all trivial things,

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but they all lead to turning away from Jesus.

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Do we find ourselves unable to take criticism

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from somebody we love? And we get defensive?

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Do we find ourselves, I think maybe this is the

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worst thing of all, and I'm going to end with

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this. We just went through two and a half years

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of a very difficult season. Our country was gripped

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with ideology. That is, the feeling, the thought

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that we had to follow a certain way. Those people

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are bad. Those people are on my side. and anger

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and destruction seemed to grip such a big part

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of our society. Do this, don't do that. There

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was no love, or very little. Why? Because we

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were in the power, not of our own mind, not clothed

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in our right mind, but we were in the power of

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an ideology. We had no freedom. There were thousands

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of voices. Shut the TV news off if it's making

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you angry. Go to your room and pray. Pray for

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those that you feel you don't love, that don't

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love you. Let your heart be at peace. The Lord

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said, as the time comes towards the end, before

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his glorious appearing to all of creation, the

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love between people would grow cold. These are

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his words. Let us gather in this small sacred

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space, just us few, love each other as the liturgy

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says. Let us love one another so that with one

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mind, what? We can confess Father, Son, and Holy

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Spirit, the Trinity, one in essence, and apply

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the remedy of love, Christ's healing. and cleansing

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to be in our right mind and at his feet begging

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trusting keeping his path and his destiny for

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us amen