WEBVTT 00:00:01.399 --> 00:00:05.480 I saw a very silly car commercial recently while 00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:09.439 I was watching basketball playoffs. It was for 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:13.300 a Jeep, Jeep Wrangler or a Jeep Cherokee, something 00:00:13.300 --> 00:00:16.140 like that. Of course, you have to picture the 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:20.480 usual scene, right? A Jeep going up impossibly 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:25.140 steep paths through the snow on a mountain, racing 00:00:25.140 --> 00:00:28.929 through a desert. making its way through the 00:00:28.929 --> 00:00:31.949 woods or on the beach and the water spraying 00:00:31.949 --> 00:00:38.490 everywhere. The usual type of crazy, impractical 00:00:38.490 --> 00:00:41.909 ways in which you can use up your $6 a gallon 00:00:41.909 --> 00:00:47.210 gas. And as if most of us are ever going to drive 00:00:47.210 --> 00:00:49.670 in those situations with that kind of vehicle. 00:00:50.429 --> 00:00:54.189 And the narrator says, do you want to follow 00:00:54.189 --> 00:01:01.579 a well -marked path? Or, big pause, be born free. 00:01:04.760 --> 00:01:09.260 Rebellion against the path, so to say. Make your 00:01:09.260 --> 00:01:12.280 own way. You know, spiritually, that's usually 00:01:12.280 --> 00:01:17.200 delusional. St. Paul warned his flock of savage 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:21.200 wolves, which will come in among you, not sparing 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:25.780 the flock, also from among yourselves. Men will 00:01:25.780 --> 00:01:28.780 rise up speaking perverse things to draw away 00:01:28.780 --> 00:01:31.620 the disciples after themselves. Now perhaps you 00:01:31.620 --> 00:01:34.500 think that commercial is a bit, I'm making things 00:01:34.500 --> 00:01:38.560 a little too dramatic. But it's an approach and 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:42.700 it's a mindset of how we are deeply influenced. 00:01:44.420 --> 00:01:47.480 The kind of rebellion that's being offered to 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:53.609 us in these expensive vehicles. by our media 00:01:53.609 --> 00:01:58.310 and our culture now, is marketed. It's not a 00:01:58.310 --> 00:02:02.010 rebellion. It's something to make money by others. 00:02:02.250 --> 00:02:06.629 The morals, the mores, the ideas, the ethics 00:02:06.629 --> 00:02:12.669 are all marketed to us. Here is the serpent's 00:02:12.669 --> 00:02:18.629 temptation in the garden of paradise over and 00:02:18.629 --> 00:02:23.699 over again from Genesis. For God knows in the 00:02:23.699 --> 00:02:26.960 day you eat of the fruit from the tree of the 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:30.439 knowledge of good and evil, your eyes will be 00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:33.759 open and you will be like gods, knowing good 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:38.879 and evil. Recreate yourself. Be your own god. 00:02:39.340 --> 00:02:42.599 Know good and evil, but the problem is you can't 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:46.599 tell the difference sometimes. You're lost between 00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:53.139 the two. Christ prayed, and this is eternal life, 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:58.120 that they may know thee, the only true God, and 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:03.319 Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Our identity, 00:03:03.539 --> 00:03:08.599 therefore, to use a modern word, as humans, like 00:03:08.599 --> 00:03:13.500 truly human, is not in our feelings, not in this 00:03:13.500 --> 00:03:20.259 media -presented If we could acquire this, then 00:03:20.259 --> 00:03:22.800 we'll have something really wonderful. Not in 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:25.199 some kind of inner rebellion against our own 00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:29.879 human nature, which is definitely being marketed 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:38.000 to us. Our true identity is found and eventually 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:44.620 formed by being in Christ. This is eternal life 00:03:44.620 --> 00:03:48.789 that they may know thee. the only true God, and 00:03:48.789 --> 00:03:52.629 Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. This is not 00:03:52.629 --> 00:03:57.849 an ideology. Because faith is not something mental 00:03:57.849 --> 00:04:01.270 that we think about. I have strong faith. I've 00:04:01.270 --> 00:04:04.569 really grasped it in my mind. It's there and 00:04:04.569 --> 00:04:07.069 it's not going to be shaken. That's just in the 00:04:07.069 --> 00:04:13.310 mind. Faith is living out those words to know 00:04:13.310 --> 00:04:16.959 the Father. and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent, 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:20.920 and to know ourself. We can say that Jesus Christ, 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:25.480 the Son of God, became what we are in order to 00:04:25.480 --> 00:04:31.639 make us what he is. He became what we are to 00:04:31.639 --> 00:04:39.079 make us share in what he is. And if I believe 00:04:39.079 --> 00:04:45.980 that, and I act in faithfulness, I carry forward 00:04:45.980 --> 00:04:49.680 my life in action, not just in some kind of intellectual 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:52.920 ascent to an idea. If I believe that with my 00:04:52.920 --> 00:04:55.560 heart and my soul, with action, that Jesus Christ 00:04:55.560 --> 00:04:59.319 is indeed the Son of God, as we say in the creed 00:04:59.319 --> 00:05:04.180 of one essence with the Father. Hearing our nature 00:05:04.180 --> 00:05:07.180 too. Today is the Sunday of the Holy Fathers. 00:05:08.139 --> 00:05:11.819 The creed that we recite, those words come from 00:05:11.819 --> 00:05:18.319 that day. if we truly believe that, it means 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:24.600 that I look at the world, I look at myself, I 00:05:24.600 --> 00:05:28.740 see my neighbor, through the lens of Christ's 00:05:28.740 --> 00:05:34.139 compassion, through the lens of Christ's humility, 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:39.660 through the lens of Christ's love for us, the 00:05:39.660 --> 00:05:42.720 love of the cross that he expressed on the cross. 00:05:43.790 --> 00:05:47.870 Then I respond as Christ would. I'd walk that 00:05:47.870 --> 00:05:50.310 extra mile, as Jesus said, to do it, the person 00:05:50.310 --> 00:05:55.389 that asks. Walk that extra mile. I'd give my 00:05:55.389 --> 00:05:57.949 coat, because I don't need two, to the person 00:05:57.949 --> 00:06:02.089 that needs one. I'd see the poor person as the 00:06:02.089 --> 00:06:07.290 least of these, my brethren. Everything that 00:06:07.290 --> 00:06:13.300 I would do would be not just an act of... Different 00:06:13.300 --> 00:06:16.959 ethics, New Testament ethics, but a sharing in 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:21.100 the light of light of God's kingdom. And being 00:06:21.100 --> 00:06:24.720 called by Christ's name, which some people are 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:27.339 ashamed of these days, to be called Christian, 00:06:27.420 --> 00:06:32.839 is an honor beyond all created honor. Bestowing 00:06:32.839 --> 00:06:36.519 not just human worth on us, but divine worth 00:06:36.519 --> 00:06:41.720 on a vessel of clay. Last week, We read about 00:06:41.720 --> 00:06:46.399 Jesus Christ taking dirt and spit. It reminds 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:50.860 us what we're made of, dust from the earth, but 00:06:50.860 --> 00:06:56.259 God's breath poured into that. This is the ultimate 00:06:56.259 --> 00:07:01.379 meaning of our existence, to be known by God 00:07:01.379 --> 00:07:07.420 as like him. The ultimate goal of our time on 00:07:07.420 --> 00:07:12.339 this world. And believing this, that Jesus is 00:07:12.339 --> 00:07:14.639 light of light, true God of true God, and that 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:17.459 we are joined to him, that we are united to him 00:07:17.459 --> 00:07:19.899 who sits on the throne next to the Father, believing 00:07:19.899 --> 00:07:23.180 that changes everything in our life, everything 00:07:23.180 --> 00:07:28.959 we do. And at that point, we see that if it doesn't 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:34.660 involve Christ, we're wasting our time. If you're 00:07:34.660 --> 00:07:39.240 going to love God, then love him. Truly love 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:42.500 him with all your heart, your mind, your strength. 00:07:42.740 --> 00:07:48.500 Why? Not because Jesus said so only, but because 00:07:48.500 --> 00:07:51.459 human nature is such that if you don't love God 00:07:51.459 --> 00:07:54.819 with all your heart, your mind, your soul, and 00:07:54.819 --> 00:07:57.420 your strength, and he exists before us, then 00:07:57.420 --> 00:08:01.139 you're going to be loving something else with 00:08:01.139 --> 00:08:04.420 all that energy, and it will disappoint you. 00:08:06.730 --> 00:08:09.750 And it will be idolatry because it isn't the 00:08:09.750 --> 00:08:16.329 one true God. You may say, or some may say, well, 00:08:16.449 --> 00:08:18.110 what's wrong with that? I have other things that 00:08:18.110 --> 00:08:21.329 I need to love. What's wrong is that we are human 00:08:21.329 --> 00:08:26.610 and only truly and fully human in Christ when 00:08:26.610 --> 00:08:29.649 we identify ourselves with Christ and not the 00:08:29.649 --> 00:08:33.289 jargon of this world, especially about human 00:08:33.289 --> 00:08:36.820 nature. Brothers and sisters, there's an attack 00:08:36.820 --> 00:08:39.259 on our human nature, if you haven't noticed. 00:08:40.220 --> 00:08:45.840 We should be extremely vigilant. We are children 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:51.559 of the gospel, children of the scripture. Get 00:08:51.559 --> 00:08:56.600 back to that. To contradict that TV commercial 00:08:56.600 --> 00:08:59.899 about the Jeep Cherokee, we are not born free. 00:09:00.539 --> 00:09:07.129 We are born yoked to death. By sin. And afflicted 00:09:07.129 --> 00:09:14.669 by sin. Our path to freedom is Christ. One saint 00:09:14.669 --> 00:09:18.669 said, I can't remember what he said. The path 00:09:18.669 --> 00:09:22.610 is with the cross. Because no one enters the 00:09:22.610 --> 00:09:27.340 kingdom of heaven in comfort. He's the way, the 00:09:27.340 --> 00:09:30.220 truth, and the life, as he said. Not as an idea. 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:33.779 No, we stand before that reality. The way is 00:09:33.779 --> 00:09:40.460 a reality. We go a certain direction. The truth 00:09:40.460 --> 00:09:43.840 is something we grasp. It's not just a thought. 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:53.519 The life is something we live. And we stand before 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:57.460 those things. for Christ who is our life, light 00:09:57.460 --> 00:10:00.620 of light, true God of one essence with the Father. 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:10.139 And we let him draw out of us sin and doubt. 00:10:10.740 --> 00:10:14.419 We let him draw out of us fear and uncertainty 00:10:14.419 --> 00:10:19.299 and weakness and anxiety. And we let him, as 00:10:19.299 --> 00:10:24.509 he says, share his glory with us to be one. Even 00:10:24.509 --> 00:10:28.549 as he and the Father is one, we become one with 00:10:28.549 --> 00:10:32.809 Christ. You can't do that part -time. And you 00:10:32.809 --> 00:10:35.909 can't do that without a well -worn path. This 00:10:35.909 --> 00:10:38.490 is what the church is giving us today on the 00:10:38.490 --> 00:10:42.629 commemoration of the Holy Fathers, of the First 00:10:42.629 --> 00:10:46.570 Ecumenical Council, as the church at the beginning 00:10:46.570 --> 00:10:51.090 stood between the day of the ascension of Christ 00:10:51.799 --> 00:10:55.799 and the coming of the Holy Spirit. We also await 00:10:55.799 --> 00:10:59.460 that feast day, and we await the coming of God 00:10:59.460 --> 00:11:02.080 in glory. Amen.