 Okay, because this is the first talk for the Defending the Faith Conference, I thought to begin we'd start with some context. Now Mike already gave us some of the context by announcing the theme and the Biblical passage that also announces the theme. Remember that the main part of the theme, the main lines are always forward, siempre adelante. And then he gave that passage that he mentioned from Second Kings with Alicia, who was saying fear not for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And then Alicia prayed, oh Lord, open his eyes that he may see. Now to see what? What again was he asked praying that he would see? It was to see that God was helping them, that there was an army, an army of chariots in fire surrounding Alicia, that with the eyes of faith there's something larger that's behind us and what are the signs of discouragement often that surround us. Now if we find ourselves I think in some ways in a similar situation to what's described in that passage is that we sometimes become afraid or discouraged by what surround us in our culture. I know there was a recent, there was a recent poll, I think it was a Pew poll, was talking about this is some of the, one of the most dramatic declines of Christians in the United States, I think ever they've ever recorded. We've also seen a lot of signs that the culture were that we've been in that it seems almost as if it's almost completely lost. There's a lot of things that surround us that could tempt us to get discouraged. But Pope Francis is telling us to open our eyes. Pope Francis is giving us a message of hope that we should not fear. Pope Francis is actually telling us we don't have to be on the defensive but we can go forward. And I'd like to read something, it's my favorite quote of Pope Francis, in fact it's probably my favorite quote of any Pope. I'd like to read it to you because it's a sign of hope for us in this time when we seem surrounded and outnumbered. This is something that he said to the priests of the diocese of Rome last year at the beginning of Lent. He said, listen to the voice of the spirit that speaks to the whole church in this our time which is in fact the time of mercy. I am certain of this. We have been living in the time of mercy for 30 or more years up to now. It is the time of mercy in the whole church. It was instituted by St. John Paul II. He had the intuition that this was the time of mercy. We think of the beatification and canonization of Sister Faustina. Then he introduced the Feast of Divine Mercy. He moved slowly, slowly and went ahead with this. And then he goes on to talk about the homily of canonization that St. John Paul II gave for St. Faustina talking about how now is the time of mercy. And then Pope Francis goes on, it is clear that now is the time of mercy. It was explicit in the year 2000 but it was something that had been maturing in John Paul's heart for some time. He had this intuition in his prayer. Today we forget everything too hastily. Also the magisterium of the church. It is inevitable in part but we cannot forget the great contents, the great intuitions and the consignment left to the people of God and that of the Divine Mercy is one of these. It is a consignment that John Paul gave us but which comes from on high. It is up to us as ministers of the church to keep alive this message. Now what is it, what is the message that he is saying? It is the job of the ministers of the church to keep alive. Actually, does anybody have the time? Ah, what was it? Ah, there we go. What time is it? The time of mercy. Some of you forgot but... Pope Francis says today we forget everything too hastily. Some cheated because I think they have heard me quote this. I have been quoting it all year. But this is right, you guys have to go to confession. Okay. It is the time of mercy. Now is the time of mercy. This is an insight of St. John Paul II. This is something that Pope Francis is saying we need to repeat. This is something that we can't forget he is saying. Now what does it mean that now is the time of mercy? I think the key to it is Romans 5 verse 20. Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more. In a time of great evil, God wants to give even greater grace. In a time of unprecedented evil, God wants to give unprecedented grace and mercy. And according to St. John Paul II, one of his insights was that the times we're living in, while there's many blessings, it's also a time of unprecedented evil. But again, for that very reason, God is giving even greater graces. In a certain sense, I would say the saints that have gone before us look at us, look down at us from heaven with a holy envy. Why? Because it's in a certain sense easier than ever before to become saints because God is pouring out so much grace and mercy on us in this our time. So that is the context. That's some of the context for this conference about why we should not fear, why we should go forward. Again, this is the defending the faith conference, but we don't have to be on the defensive. We can be on the offensive. Why? Because now is the time of mercy. Now is the time of great grace. All right, now for this talk, I wanna give some greater context still than just that now being the time of mercy, that we don't have to just be on the offensive of defending our faith, but going off and really spreading our faith and with it with power. And the way I wanna give some more of that context is of how we go forward is actually to be looking back for a moment. And to look back at the great grace, the great grace of the 20th century, the great grace of the 20th century. What was that? I would say the great grace of the 20th century, the Second Vatican Council. Some are saying, really? The Vatican too? And wasn't there a lot of turmoil and confusion after the council? Yes, there was, but it doesn't mean it wasn't a great gift of the Holy Spirit and even the great grace of the 20th century. It was a gift of the Holy Spirit. Yes, there was turmoil and confusion, but the key question is really how to interpret the council? The Holy Spirit gave a great and incredible gift in the council, but there was a lot of debate and confusion about how to interpret it. So the key question is how do we interpret the council? And that's what I wanna get into a little bit here is a context for this time of mercy, a context for our marching orders of going forward in this time of mercy to win the world for God. Now, if there's a dispute as to how to interpret, you know, if it's about a question of interpreting the council, if there's a dispute about how to interpret sacred scripture, who do you go to? All right, it depends actually. If you're Protestant, I'm not sure, maybe you go to your pastor or if you're Catholic, yeah, we go to the church, we go to the pope, we go to the Magisterium, right? That's an authentic, and if we go to the pope and we have a question like there's a dispute who's gonna win the Super Bowl, the pope settles it, right? No, he is infallible but not with regard in matters of faith and morals, right? But the idea is if we do ask the pope on a matter of faith and morals of how to interpret the council, we're gonna get a clear answer. So if we ask the pope, how do we interpret Vatican II? One of the questions he said, well, actually, well, hold on a minute, Father Mike, which pope, right? Well, it's not that they're contradicting each other but I would suggest that we look at the pope who was there at the council who helped write some of the documents and then who led the church for 26 years in the tumultuous post-conciliar period. The same pope who called Vatican II the great grace of the 20th century. Who am I talking about? Saint John Paul II. And if we take Saint John Paul II as a guide for us to interpreting the council, I think we got a really good guide. If we were to ask him, okay, John Paul, what was Vatican II all about? I think he would say Vatican II was a unique kind of council. In other words, other councils in the history of the church were apologetic in character. You know, you take, for instance, the Council of Nicaea in 325. It was responding to the attacks against the church, the doctrinal attacks of Arius, right? Council of Ephesus in 431 was responding to the attacks of Nestorius. If we fast forward to the Council of Trent in the 16th century, who was that responding to? The Protestant Reformation, right? But Vatican II was a unique council. It was different. It wasn't responding to heresy or attacks from without. In other words, it wasn't responding so much to a doctrinal problem. Rather, Vatican II, it was unique according to John Paul II because it was responding to a pastoral problem. It was the first pastoral council. And what was the pastoral problem that Vatican II was responding to? It was the pastoral problem of hypocrisy, professing one thing and then living something completely different. Now, this is an age-old problem, right? The prophets reeled against it. Jesus himself addressed it with harsh words, calling the scribes and the Pharisees, you hypocrites for professing one thing and then living something different. If for some reason in the modern world that age-old problem of hypocrisy is worse than ever before, thus the split between faith and life among Christians is unprecedented. For some reason, there's something in the modern world. We don't have time to get into it, but there's something in the modern world where we are professing our faith, but then we live something different. So many of us Christians, we profess our Christian faith, but then we live no different from the pagans. In fact, if you take a lot of the hot button issues that are in the news or those type of things, we Christians often fear no better or no different than the pagans. If you look at statistics like divorce, contraception, abortion, social injustice, racism, the statistics are more or less the same in many of the cases. And that's the scandal, the split between faith and life. But even making matters worse, we sort of justify our hypocrisy with cute phrases by saying, well, I'm a cafeteria Catholic, right? I pick and choose what I want here and there. Now, think about this for a moment. Imagine if Jesus is giving the Sermon on the Mount, that's a hard saying, that's not an easy sermon. And he's giving the Sermon on the Mount that begins in Matthew 5. And somebody would just stop Jesus and say, wait, wait, hold on Jesus, I like this first part about trusting and the Father taking care of us, but I don't like all this other part. WWJD, what would Jesus do if somebody stopped them and said, hold on, I like this, but I don't like this, and I'm gonna pick and choose? What would Jesus do? Would he yell at us? Like he yelled at the scribes and the Pharisees, you hypocrite, is that what he would do? I suggest no. The reason I suggest no is because that's not the road that his church took at Vatican II. It's not the take of the church at Vatican II. In other words, Vatican II decided not to condemn the likes of us modern Catholic Christians, rather it decided to help us. I think one of the best announcements of that tone, of that take on the council, of that approach, comes from St. John the 23rd's words that inaugurated the council when he said, nowadays the church prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity. Nowadays the church prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity. Thank God, thank God now is the time of mercy. Thank God, I think I would be broken, right? You hypocrite, if Jesus was yelling at me, the church was yelling at me that way. I think a lot of us are broken by the culture. The church knows that, and so it's trying to help us. It sees that so many of us are confused, misguided and misled by so many of the currents of our culture. And so the shepherds of the church at Vatican II said, we're not gonna condemn the flock, but rather we're gonna try to help the flock overcome that split between faith and life. And we're gonna do that by helping them to better understand the ancient teachings of the church because we're gonna take the ancient teachings of the church and we're gonna put them in a language and in the context that modern people will better understand. We're gonna address humanity's concerns, their questions, their hopes and their fears. That's how we're going to address things because the council realized that if we can better grasp the faith when our minds, if it's in that language that we better understand and it addresses the relevant questions that we have, then the faith can go from our heads into our hearts and into our lives. That was the goal of the council. That was its strategy, bringing it to the head, to the heart, to the life because if we're living the faith, then we're overcoming the split between faith and life. That was their strategy, that was their solution. And so the council fathers got together, they huddled and said, this is our strategy, bring, help them to understand the faith better so it goes into their hearts and into their lives. That's our strategy, great, let's go, break. They go home to their home diocese. They implement the council and then there's just full blown, widespread renewal, right? I mean the seminaries were bursting at the seams at new vocations, the convents were exploding with new sisters, and the faithful were on fire with love for the faith and spreading it to the ends of the earth. Amen or oh my? Actually it depends, it depends. Granted in most places there was that confusion and turmoil and frankly in many places, maybe the majority of the places the council wasn't implemented well although I'm not to judge. But I know though one thing, there was at least one exception to the general rule of the turmoil and confusion. And it was in that one, it was in one particular diocese in Europe. It was the diocese of Kraków, Poland. And it was headed up by the bishop there, Colonel Carol Wojtywa, later Cardinal Wojtywa. And it was in that diocese of Kraków, Poland that I think according to George Weigel, papal biographer said it was the most successful implementation of Vatican II in the church. So instead of the turmoil and confusion there was that full blown widespread renewal. And so we could ask ourselves, well what was Wojtywa's secret? How was it that there was this full blown widespread renewal at the council after the council in the diocese of Kraków? I think this is his secret, he did two things. First he wrote a book called Sources of Renewal on the implementation of Vatican II. And in that book, which yeah, in that book he basically would take the main teachings of the council and then he would give a running commentary to help people better understand them. And then that book was distributed throughout his diocese, okay? So that's first, he wrote that book and the second thing he did is he called kind of a council and miniature in his diocese, a sort of mini Vatican II. It was a synod of the diocese of Kraków. And it wasn't just for the auxiliary bishops, it wasn't just for the other priests, it wasn't for the nuns, it was for everyone, the lay people, everyone was involved. They were all reading his book, they were taking it home, they were studying it, they were praying about it, they were going together in these small groups discussing it and through that process, the faith and the teachings of the council were going from their heads to their hearts and to their lives and it led to that renewal. Now I don't have time to go through that whole book because some of you guys are saying, oh, the source is renewal, I saw many writing it down. I don't recommend getting it, unfortunately. It's not an easy read. The polls are particularly smart, I think, despite the Polish jokes, right? Because it's not an easy read, but they got it. I mean, Wojtywa, especially if you read things like the acting person, they're not easy things, but thanks be to God, there's one concept that summarizes the main idea of the whole thing and really was the key to the secret of Wojtywa's success. It's a golden thread that goes through that whole book. It's something that when I learned in the seminary it changed my life, it was just, it was a huge game changer for me. And it happens to be that concept is the title of the first chapter of that book, Sources of Renewal. The title is The Enrichment of Faith, The Enrichment of Faith. Now, what is The Enrichment of Faith? What is that concept that dominates that book and its main theme? The Enrichment of Faith is basically the idea I've already mentioned that's the strategy of the council. It's to bring the faith from head to heart to life. But because this is such an important concept for renewal in the church at Vatican II and today, I wanna go a little deeper into this concept of The Enrichment of Faith that was so important for Wojtywa. He made it the title of the first chapter and he made the whole book follow that theme. Now, to help us unpack the theme The Enrichment of Faith or that concept, I wanna look at somebody who's known as the Hidden Father of Vatican II. He was one of the most important influences on Vatican II. Does anybody have an idea who I'm talking about who hasn't read The One Thing is Three? Or done the Hearts of Fire programs? I'll give you a hint, he's a famous convert. Newman. Blessed John, he's blessed now, isn't he? I think so, right? Okay, he's not saint yet, we're praying. Okay, God help make him a saint, okay. So, blessed John Henry Newman, the Hidden Father of Vatican II. Now, Newman wrote this book, The Grammar of Ascent, which he talks about, sort of his strategy and all of his pastoral strategy and he distinguishes, I'm paraphrasing here, more or less two ideas. One is sort of notional knowledge or notional ascent and the other is real knowledge or real ascent. Notional knowledge or ascent is of the mind. Real is when it gets into the heart. And for Newman, his whole strategy was to help people bring the faith from their heads to their hearts. His Episcopal motto was core, odd, core, lock with her. Heart speaks to heart, that was his strategy. Now, to fully appreciate Newman on this, and this is his theological I'm gonna get, so don't worry, but bear with me, all right. We'll put Newman on the shelf for a second and bring in another great theologian, perhaps the greatest theologian in the church, according to many, who would that maybe be, huh? Why am I doing to my ear and the microphone? All right. Who is it? Wow, okay, many would say Aquinas. I heard somebody say Aquinas. At least in the seminary, that's what we were taught. But a lot of us didn't like St. Thomas so much and the reason being is one of the books that we had to read a lot of was the Summa Theologia. And I remember many a seminary and taking that to his room going, oh, I'm going Summa wrestling. All right, because it wasn't easy. It's amazing, but the reason St. Thomas wasn't easy, he's a perfect example of the master of notional knowledge. The Summa, the summary of theology, gives us notional knowledge incredibly. And when you read the Summa Theologia, it's just pure argument, pure syllogistic reason. There's no autobiography in there. There's no scintillating details of his life or anything that is autobiographical that we modern people like so much. It's just pure theology, pure arguments. The only I statements he makes are I answer that. Everything is just, he stays out of it. And that's why it's hard for a lot of people to read, but it's beautiful because it's notional. But sometimes for many people, it's hard for it to get in the heart. Now, I'm as Aquinas as a master of notional knowledge. Newman served the truth in a different way. He wrote nearly as much as St. Thomas, but his genre of writing was a bit different. It wasn't all these theological dissertations and discourses, these massive tomes of theology. What were most of Newman's writings? Sermons, that's right. Most of his writings were sermons. And Newman had a very particular strategy in giving his sermons that goes back to his strategy in the Grammar of Ascent. He said a homily or a sermon should have one single point, one point. And basically it should take the notional ideas that we've all memorized in our catechism classes that we know in our minds, but the homily or the sermon should take that little notional idea and help people to experience it so it becomes real for the listeners. And Newman arguably one of the greatest, maybe the greatest prose writer in the English language. I mean, if you read a Newman's sermon out loud, it literally sings as a cadence and a tempo. It's like da-da-da-da-da-da-da. It's like a musical, he had a musical ear. He had amazing ability to express things with examples and clarity. And when you read a Newman's sermon, Newman would take one poor notional idea that we've all memorized and he would take all of his, he would marshal all of his amazing abilities for communication. He would hammer that poor notional idea until it would bleed the real, until people and the listeners would experience the notional ideas that he would be talking about. So as a notional to the real, the head to the heart, that was his strategy in all of his sermons. Now I myself have experienced some of the power of that process of head to heart and some of my own pastoral ministry. As a priest, I've done a fair amount of work with people who are dying. And one of the things that I've noticed, people who are dying, you see where this tension or this process of the notional to the real is alive in a lot of us Catholics, especially in our hypocrisy. Because a lot of times people, we know the promises of Christ. We know the promises of eternal life. We know the promise of the resurrection. But when people are facing terminal illness, often all of those ideas go out of their minds and all that's left is fear and terror in some cases. Terror at the mortality. But thanks be to God through prayer, through pastoral accompanying. The promises of Christ begin to go from head into heart. And I've seen that miracle of grace where people approach their mortality with peace and even joy. As they embrace the promise of eternal life, as they embrace the promise of the resurrection and that idea becomes real for them and the truth of the gospel and the promises of the gospel are reflected in their attitudes and in their emotions, the peace and the joy. And that's really the essence of the Christian life. That's really the essence of the Christian project in a certain sense. That to preach the gospel, to make the gospel go from the end of the earth but where people don't just hear it, don't just have it in their minds but bring it into their hearts because there's an amazing thing about the human being where we can take the truth that is Christ and it can become incarnate in us so to speak that as the gospel goes from our heads to our hearts to our lives, we become living gospels that people see and experience Christ and experience the gospel. Not just hear it but experience it in their hearts and that leads to conversions. That is in a certain sense the essence of the Christian life, not just being baptized but knowing our Catholic faith and not just knowing it but experiencing it and living it. That's where the enrichment of faith takes place. That's where true evangelization takes place. In fact, Voitiwa, this was Newman's whole strategy, his whole pastoral strategy but this was also Voitiwa's pastoral strategy. In sources of renewal, there's an amazing quote where he says, the enrichment of faith is the direction that should be followed by all pastoral action, the lay apostolate and the whole of the church's activity. In other words, everything. Everything should be directed towards the enrichment of faith, helping Catholics, helping Christians bring the truths of Jesus Christ from head and not just to the head but to the heart and to life. And that was part of Voitiwa's strategy in forming those small groups in the diocese of Kraków because the way the truth is brought from head to heart to life is through what's concrete, what's personal, through prayer, through discussion. All of that was at work in the Synod of Kraków. All of that was at work when they took that book sources of renewal, discussed it, prayed over it and had their study. That's how the renewal of the church takes place. That's how the enrichment of faith takes place. All right. So, Voitiwa thought that the enrichment of faith is the most important work for the church and it was the secret to his success in the diocese of Kraków, the secret to the success of his implementation of the council. Now here's a mystery. If that was the secret to Voitiwa's success in Kraków and when he became Pope, he said that his top priority was to implement the council. Why did he wait until his third encyclical letter in 1982 to write Enrichmente Fidei on the enrichment of faith? If you read that encyclical, raise your left toe. I'd do that because I'm not gonna put any in this spot. Nobody read it. He didn't write that. And I don't even know if Enrichmente Fidei is accurate. I'm not a Latinist. He never wrote an encyclical on the enrichment of faith. Why not? That was the secret to his success in Kraków. Well, it's because he gave it, he talked about the enrichment of faith in all of his homilies and so many of his homilies, right? No, I remember I did my licensure thesis on, or my, what was it, my master's thesis on this and I looked everywhere. Nowhere can you find that I find John Paul talking about the enrichment of faith. So isn't that a mystery? Here's his secret weapon. That was the key to his success in the diocese of Kraków and yet when he becomes Pope, he doesn't even talk about it. Do you see the problem there? So why is that? Why didn't he talk about the enrichment of faith? Why didn't he write it as an encyclical letter? I suggest to you because it was his secret weapon and a secret weapon, you don't telegraph, you don't broadcast, you just do it. You just implement it. You don't tell everybody. You send out people on a secret mission and you unleash that secret weapon and that's what he did. I would suggest to you that everything that John Paul did was the enrichment of faith. That that was the secret, the key to understanding all of his actions, his whole pastoral program. Unless you think I'm crazy with that, I wanna give you some examples, some facts. Okay, so you're still with me? See where we're going? Let's look at some facts that show that the enrichment of faith was the key to John Paul II's whole pastoral program, as the key to the new evangelization, the key to our way forward in defending the faith, not just defending the faith, but going out and spreading the faith with power. First point, first fact from the pontificate of John Paul II. John Paul II was the most seen human being in the history of humanity. More people saw him with their own two eyes in the flesh than any other human being who's ever lived. Why was that? Well, it was because John Paul lived behind the Iron Curtain in Poland and then when he found out it became pulp, he got behind the Iron Curtain, he said, hot dog, I'm gonna see the world. And he jet-shatts at it all over the place, right? Not exactly. I mean, yes, it was his travels, but why did he go to the ends of the earth? Why did he travel so much? It certainly wasn't easy. He did it because of the enrichment of faith. He didn't want people to think of the pulp as just some guy living in Rome, but like the success of the apostles who will bear solemn witness by their presence to the faith that were given in Jesus Christ. So that was where when people went to those events where he spoke, which happened to be some of the largest crowds in human history. Were the largest crowds in human history. And even more dramatic was it was actually these crowds, they weren't of, most of the biggest crowds were the World Youth Day. So it was made up of young people. And they weren't going to see some rock star, but to see an old man talk about Jesus Christ. But it was the way he spoke about him. People who were at those events say, it was like he was speaking directly to me. My heart was burning within me as he spoke. It was heart speaks to heart. That's how John Paul did it. And he didn't just stay up at the pulpit. He went in his potmobile, slapped hands, kissed babies, got to be right there with the people to make the faith real. And after he left, he left to train a trail of an explosion of grace and renewal in the church. Why? Because of the enrichment of faith. Because the enrichment of faith takes place through what's concrete, through what's real, through what's personal. That's the new evangelization. And that's why John Paul went throughout the world. Now, second thing. John Paul II, he canonized and beatified more saints and blesseds than any other, that I think all other popes combined. Now, why did he do that? I think he did it to make real, concrete and real, one of the most important teachings of Vatican II. The universal call to holiness. That we're all called to become saints. But it's not enough just to hear that, to know it in our minds. We have to see holiness. And so John Paul II wanted saints and blesseds from every continent, from every culture, from every language, from every way of life, from every period in history. So you could see saints, not just in a plaster statue, but photographs, people that your grandparents would have known, so that the faith, so holiness, the universal call to holiness, becoming a saint would be concrete and real. So it would move our hearts. So it wouldn't just be an idea. And John, so that it would be something that would really inspire hearts to holiness. Because John Paul knew if you raise up one saint, other saints fall on their trail. That's why I think so many saints and blesseds. It was because of the enrichment of faith, making the faith concrete, personal, and real. Take something else, the rosary and Marian devotion. John Paul II emphasized the rosary, calling it his favorite prayer. He even gave us the luminous mysteries. Why did he emphasize the rosary so much? I think it's because of the enrichment of faith. Because what is our faith to be enriched about, above all? The heart of sacred scripture, which is what? The gospels. And what is the rosary but a prolonged meditation and prayer on the mysteries of the life of Christ revealed in the gospels? And that we're praying with she who had the most enriched faith of all. It's to contemplate the face of Christ in the mysteries of the gospel with the eyes of Mary. As an aid to helping us make the faith concrete and real. You see why he emphasized that so much? The rosary is an amazing tool for the new evangelization, for the enrichment of faith, because it's not just about studying the word, it's praying the word, it's meditating on the word, it's contemplating Christ. So he comes into our hearts and then into our lives so that we can become other Christ, which is the heart of new evangelization, which is how we truly defend the faith by holiness, by becoming transformed in Christ, by having made his word real in our hearts and in our lives. This is also why he emphasized Marian consecration. Remember his papal motto, Todas Tuis, which is an echo of St. Louis de Montfort's Prayer of Marian Devotion. Why did he emphasize Marian consecration? How many of you guys have done Marian consecration? Okay, good. If you haven't done it, do it, because that's one of the most concrete ways of not just knowing about Mary, but experiencing her. Often times people say, I've got this issue with Mary, this problem. I say, do the consecration. I can't explain it to you. We have to experience this mother, that Mary is our mother, and when we experience her tender love, that's when we get it. It's more than just explaining. It's more than just defending the faith about Mary. It is that, but it's bearing witness to the truth. She's my mom, and she helps me, and I love her, and that's what moves hearts to better understand Mary. That they understand she's our mother, and the way we do that above all, the height, the crowning of Marian devotion is the consecration. That's why I emphasize that. You still with me? Okay, this is also why I emphasize the Eucharist, because you can't get more concrete, real, and personal than the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. It makes the faith concrete and real, and Eucharistic adoration. Jesus waits for us in the sacrament of love, St. John Paul II said. But now I wanna look at, okay, we've looked at several of the things of how John Paul, everything in his pontificate, a lot of his actions, I gave some examples, are about the enrichment of faith. But now we've come to what I think is the most, the greatest and most important theme for his whole pontificate, and it has to do with the enrichment of faith. What is the great theme of the pontificate of St. John Paul II? I would suggest to you that it's divine mercy. That it's, in his, based on his own words, and based on the words of Pope Benedict, he said, this got to the heart and the center and formed the whole image of his pontificate. You know what John Paul's last words to humanity were? People say, let me go home to the father. No. A Polish priest was there and he's dying. He said his last words were amen. No. His last words, he actually gave the day after he died. What? It's because he was prepared. He wrote his homily for the next day. And what did he say? How much the world needs to understand and accept, understand and accept divine mercy. Jesus, we believe in you and we repeat to you today, Jesus, I trust in you, have mercy on us and on the whole world. According to St. John Paul II, there's nothing the world needs more right now than divine mercy. And the most important truth, and there's all kinds of truths that need to go from our heads to our hearts to our lives. But what is the most important truth of all the truths? Because that's how he wrote Sources of Renewal. He took all these different truths. They were presented in the council so we could bring them from head to heart to life. But what was the most important truth that needs to go from head to heart to life for John Paul II? It's the truth that God is mercy. That God is love. That God is merciful love. That's what he saw as the most important truth that needs to go from our heads to our hearts to our lives. Why? Well, one reason is because things are so bad right now. The culture of death is so pervasive. We've gotten chewed up, spit out and damaged by the culture of death. Our hearts have become hardened, we've become broken and we need the message of mercy so that we don't get discouraged. But also it goes back even further than our present context. It goes back to the fall of Adam and Eve. What was the original wound in their hearts? After they disobeyed God and they heard God walking in the garden, what did they do? They ran up to God and they said, merciful Father, forgive us because we trust in your mercy, right? No, they went and hid. And what do we do when our sins weigh heavily on us? We go and hide. We avoid the Lord. As Mother Teresa says, that's a danger for all of us to avoid Jesus, especially when our sins are weighing on us. And because they were surrounded by so much sin, because we're so broken, because of that original wound, the most important truth that needs to go from our heads to our hearts to our lives is divine mercy. We may know that God is mercy, but we have to experience that in our hearts and then live it in our lives. And until we experience it in our hearts, we're not gonna be effective apostles. We're not gonna be effective evangelizers. And we're not gonna defend the faith about anyone because they're not gonna see the incarnation of the Word in us, especially in his mercy and the fruits of that, which are the peace and joy, like when Jesus appeared to the apostles in the upper room and breathed on them. And what did it say? In the image of divine mercy, when he appeared to them and he breathed on them, the disciples rejoiced. We rejoiced. Pope Francis says, the joy of the gospel comes from what? From an encounter with the mercy of Jesus. He's constantly talking about that gaze of love, which was his own conversion after he went to confession when he was a teenager. We all have to experience that gaze of love. What is the papal, the bowl of addiction for the jubilee year of mercy? Right? It's the face of mercy. And he talks about the face of the Father. It's that gaze of merciful love that we see in the image of divine mercy. That's when it becomes concrete and real for us. That's when we have the joy of the gospel. That's when we become effective evangelizers. When the truth of God's mercy is not just a concept for us, but we've embraced it fully in our hearts. We understand that. We don't give in to discouragement and we have an unshakable trust in his merciful love, which is the source of our peace and our joy. That is the heart of the new evangelization, divine mercy. That's what we're called to discover more deeply in this great jubilee year that's coming up. That's what Mary's whole role is in our lives is to help us to accept that the new Eve, just as the old Eve caused that wound, so to speak, in our hearts, where we have a distorted image of God as one jealous of his prerogatives and we avoid him. It's the new Eve who helps heal that wound by bringing us to the new tree of life, which is the cross from which the pure side of Jesus, there was the fountain of mercy. Mary's the one who helps us to receive God's mercy and we all struggle with it, according to Mother Teresa. Okay, so again, now, John Paul II knew though that because our hearts are a tough nut to crack, so to speak, because hardness of heart has come in so deeply, he knew that for us to really receive divine mercy into our hearts, we need a multi-pronged attack on our hardened hearts to break them down and let divine mercy in, because a lot of us are wounded from our own sins or the sins of others and we've all closed our hearts to one degree or another. All of us have hardness of heart and it's hard for that mercy to get in. So what is the multi-pronged attack that John Paul II used? It's St. Faustina. He's her secret weapon in a way. What, St. Faustina? We don't like to talk about that. We just want to talk about divine mercy in scripture. Let's leave these mystics that make us uncomfortable aside. Why did John Paul emphasize Faustina and divine mercy Sunday and the image of divine mercy and all of that? Because of the enrichment of faith. It's a most ironic thing. People say, they think Vatican II throughout the devotions and then you tell them John Paul emphasized divine mercy because of Vatican II. He's emphasizing St. Faustina because of Vatican II. Why? Because Vatican II emphasized the enrichment of faith that the way we overcome the split between faith and life is the enrichment of faith that bringing the faith from our heads to our hearts to our lives. But how do we do that through what's concrete and personal? And you can't get more concrete personal than a saint of our time who's announced a specific message for our time that now is the time of mercy which the popes have picked up and are emphasizing and who gives us concrete devotions so that we can enter more deeply into this center of the gospel. Faustina didn't come to give us some new gospel but to bring us back to the heart of the gospel which is the message of God's love. Specifically that Jesus came not for the righteous but for sinners, that he has the heart of the good shepherd who will even leave behind the 99 to go and search for the lost sheep. It's that central scandalous message that the love of God is like water that goes to the lowest place. It's that amazing message that you see repeated in the diary of Faustina. The greater the sinner, the greater his right to my mercy. That is the center of the gospel. That God doesn't love us because we're so good but because he's so good and the more weak, broken and sinful we are the more his merciful love like water goes out to us to the lowest place. That's the good news of the gospel that we're called to announce that there's no reason to be discouraged when it seems that all is lost. Divine mercy is a love that's more powerful than evil, more powerful than sin and even if it's a scandal to the older brother and the parable of the prodigal son even if it's a scandal to the self-righteous who think I don't need mercy because I'm already perfect the heart of the gospel is that God loves us and the more weak, broken and sinful we are the more his love goes out to us. It flips the way human love is on its head. And that is the source of our rejoicing. God loves us not because what I do but because who he is and he is divine mercy itself. That's the gospel. That's when we talk about defending the faith. That's our faith. That's the center of the gospel message. The Catechism and the Catholic Church says the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ of his mercy for sinners. That's the center of it. The Holy Spirit in this time in the church is bringing us back to the center of everything. The center of the evangelical message, mercy for sinners. Now again, I was saying that Faustina is an amazing saint and an amazing weapon for John Paul II and the enrichment of faith because she makes these things, these truths of the central message of the gospel, not a new gospel, but she helps make it more concrete and personal. How? I'm gonna race through this so that I keep the time. But the way to remember what's going on with Faustina and the message of divine mercy in this time of mercy that's coming up, we're in the time of mercy but then the year of mercy is beginning on December 8th so it's like we're gonna time of mercy and the time of mercy coming up. Better know about Saint Faustina, right? All you have to remember is a little word, it's actually a little bird, it's Finch, F-I-N-C-H. There's a priest in my community came up with this, Finch, F-I-N-C-H, F. What does the F stand for? The Feast of Mercy, Divine Mercy Sunday. My favorite day of the year, why? Because it's on that day that Jesus promised that on that day all the floodgates through which graces flow are wide open. I've seen incredible miracles and graces on that day, the second Sunday of Easter. But the greatest grace is what I call a clean slate grace. And people say, oh yeah, because you can get a plenary indulgence. No, it's a little different from that. In order to get a plenary indulgence, what do you have to do? The Indulgence Act, prayers for the Holy Father, confession, like I think 21 days or whatever and some other things. But one of them is you have to have total detachment from sin. Now if you're totally detached from sin, raise your left toe. Philip Neri was giving a parish mission for which people could get a plenary indulgence and the Holy Spirit told them only two people were getting the plenary indulgence. Philip Neri and a six-year-old boy. Presumably because everybody else was attached to sin. Now that's not to discourage us to shoot for plenary indulgence because the nice things, if you miss, you still get a partial indulgence. But to get the grace of Mercy Sunday, which the theologian that Carol Voitiwa assigned to investigate what's the nature of this grace, he said it's like a second baptism. It's not a baptism, but so thoroughly does it cleanse the soul he likened to the second baptism. In order to receive it, on Divine Mercy Sunday, you receive Holy Communion in the state of grace with simply with a desire to receive that grace and you get it. That's why it's my favorite grant of the year. I get that Mercy shower, that super shower, every Mercy Sunday every year. Why does God do that? In a liturgical communal celebration where we focus on the message of God's mercy where he gives these extraordinary promises, he's helping us as a church come together to appreciate and bring this truth of mercy from our heads to our hearts to our lives. Because when we hear that promise that's offered on Mercy Sunday, it helps us to remember that this mercy is so overflowing, so abundant, and that it's there for us if we turn away from sin and ask for it and receive it. What's next? I, I is the image of Divine Mercy. And that's Jesus asked Faustina to have an image painted. The image of Divine Mercy, the original one that was painted under the direction of St. Faustina is in your packets or something like that. I gave you all one. It's the original Vilnius image. If you want a nice canvas one for 1995, go to Divine Mercy Art, Top Quality Religious Art at Merciful Prices. DivineMercyArt.com. You know, but it really is, we set it up as a ministry because Jesus had let every soul have access to this image. And it's an image of amazing graces and it's an image that reminds us his love does not change. Those rays that go out from his heart, they're not a faucet that turns on and off. His love for us never changes. He's always the same in that image of Divine Mercy. We may change, we may turn our backs on him, but when we turn away from sin, at least try to turn away from sin and come to him with a contrite heart, his mercy is always there. And he wants us to say, Jesus, I trust in you. Jesus, I trust in you. Jesus, I trust in you. And he gave that image to remind us this is the image of the time of mercy that we're in. And in that image, why did he give it? Because of the enrichment of faith. Because art has a way of getting to the heart and the way that words alone can't. And the image of the Divine Mercy can do that when we gaze upon it. That is when we meet his gaze of merciful love looking at us with love and those rays of mercy coming to us and embracing us. You know the context for it, right? It's when Jesus appears in the upper room to the disciples where the doors are locked. This is after Jesus has been crucified. And they're terrified, they're shamed because they left him and abandoned him and then they're in the upper room thinking the same thing's gonna happen to them. Imagine the fear, the shame, the discouragement, the despair in that room, the darkness. But then Jesus appears in their midst, he doesn't even bother to open the door. He just appears in their midst and he says to them, Shalom, peace be with you. And it says he breathed on them. Receive the Holy Spirit. And then it said the disciples rejoiced. That's the image of Divine Mercy. That Jesus comes walking through the doors of our hardened hearts. And he says peace be with you. And he wants to embrace us with his mercy but we have to say, Jesus, I trust in you and accept that mercy. And when we accept into our hearts, the enrichment of faith is taking place. I'm almost out of time so I wanna quickly go through the other ones. F, feast of mercy. I, the image of Divine Mercy. What's next? And the novena to Divine Mercy which you start on Good Friday and it ends the day before Mercy Sunday is a way for preparing for Mercy Sunday. That's a personal form of prayer. F-I-N-C, see the chapel to Divine Mercy which is the most powerful prayer there is, right? Well, the Mass is the most powerful prayer. What part of the Mass? The consecration people say, communion. It's that moment of the Mass. Through him, with him, in him. O God, Almighty Father, and you, the Holy Spirit, all glory and honors, yours forever and ever. Amen. Why is that moment so powerful? Because we're holding before the Father, the face of the Father is the perfect sacrifice of love of his Son. And we can ask for anything in view of that sacrifice, those infinite merits. And in the chapel to Divine Mercy it's echoing that supercharged moment of the Mass because we're holding up before the Father the perfect sacrifice of love of his Son. And we're saying, eternal Father, I offer you the body and blood, soul and divinity of your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, for what? In atonement for our sins and those of my whole family. Those of my city. No, of the whole world. When I was in the seminar I used to be afraid of asking for too much because I thought, oh my gosh, what's God gonna want in return? My crucifixion, right? Souls are only one of the price of suffering according to the Diary of Faustina. So I'm not gonna ask for anything too big like the whole world. But who am I kidding? The sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, the merits are infinite. And that's why the heart of the devotion is Jesus I trust in you to appeal to the Father with bold confidence lifting up the perfect sacrifice of love of the Son and calling out for what this world needs more than anything. Mercy, mercy, mercy for the sake of his sorrowful passion, Father, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Pray the chaplet, it can change the world. Jesus told Faustina, for your sake I withhold the hand that punishes. For your sake I bless the earth. It wasn't because Jesus Super Saint, which she is, it's because she relied on the infinite merits of Christ and called for mercy. And she said it's chosen souls that are crying out for mercy that keep the world in existence. So when it looks like when we look around and we were tempted to discouragement, know that all Jesus needs is a few calling out for mercy and it brings down mercy in the whole world in this time of mercy. F-I-N-C, what was the last one? H, the hour of great mercy from three to four in the afternoon every day. It's like a mini mercy Sunday. It's a commemoration of the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary for us, the sacrifice of his love. And what are we supposed to do at three o'clock? Everybody says pray the chaplet. Sure, you can do that. But this reveals his heart. He says above all what he wants. You know, if you could do the stations, that'd be great. If you can visit me in the chapel, great. He wants us to have mercy on him. I don't have time to get into all of that. I wish I could. You can get the book, the Consoling the Art of Jesus. You'll learn more. But the idea is it's Mother Teresa when Jesus said I thirst, it's the idea that we can console Jesus. And he wants, how do we console Jesus? By remembering him at the three o'clock hour and saying, Jesus, I trust in you. Jesus, I trust in you. Jesus, I trust in you. Jesus, I thank you for dying on the cross for me. Jesus, I thank you for your sacrifice of love. Jesus, I thank you for your mercy. That is what consoles the heart of Jesus. That's what we can do every day from three to four to remind us of the heart of the message of the gospel. God's mercy for sinners. This heart of the gospel, which is the source of our enrichment of faith, that if we bring it from head to heart to life, we overcome the split between faith and life, which is the great pastoral, the great scandal in the modern church. But if we do that, we'll be true apostles, we'll not just defend the faith, we'll go out and bring the faith to the ends of the earth. Amen. So make use of this time of mercy that's coming up. Have a great conference. Please pray for me. And one book plug, if you wanna learn more, there's a book, the second greatest story ever told. Now is the time of mercy, which will give you a bigger picture of all this. And if you like the enrichment of faith stuff and you wanna learn more, there's another book called The One Thing Is Three, how the Most Holy Trinity Explains Everything. And it goes into this more deeply. God bless you. Let me give you a blessing. The Lord be with you. Through the intercession of Mary Immaculate and all the angels and saints, may Almighty God pour out a super abundance of His mercy for you during this conference, that your hearts may be set afire, you may be more authentic witnesses of the gospel of Jesus Christ to all those around you, all those you serve in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you.