 looking at the schedule, seeing where they put me. I get to follow who? At what time? They've been traveling. But we all know why we're here. We all know who we're here for. We're here for one person, one person alone. He was born in anonymity, in a very obscure small town. He grew in anonymity. But before too long, people started to see there was something different about this guy. He wasn't like everybody else. He didn't talk like everybody else. He didn't act like everybody else. And he developed a small core group of close followers. And his fame spread. And his name spread. And people would come from miles, from miles, days of journey, just to be near him, just to hear him. But he was also dangerous. And the tide of public opinion began to turn against him, until eventually he died a tragic death. And then lo and behold, people began to see him again, to speak of him again, to claim that they saw him walking and talking again. Obviously this person that's speaking of is Elvis Presley. Now, right now there are a couple of people going, wait, carry the one. Okay, yeah, all right, good. But you see, we're talking about these themes for many. And this afternoon in the early bread session, this was hit on very well, both by Al and by Dr. Orgway, is that for a lot of people in this culture, this idea of Jesus as a reality is just unfathomable. What's really interesting though is in our Catholic subculture, and everything that Father was just talking about, that tremendous quote by Leon Boy, the greatest tragedy is not to become a saint. We all know that we're supposed to be saints. Yes, I'm called to be a saint. But deep, deep down in the deepest recesses of our souls, deep in the recesses of our hearts, that impetus that leads us to confession, because we know that we're sinners. We are Adam. We are Eve. We're standing there naked before God with the fruit juice running down our face. And we know that he sees all and knows all. And I guarantee you, when Father was saying this up here, there were several hearts and souls in this room, definitely over here in the speaker section who were saying, you're sitting in your seat thinking, my wife has a shot at sainthood. I'm just shooting for purgatory. There are souls in this room that are thinking, yes, absolutely, call to be a saint. Never going to happen. That's why in this talk, what are five saintly strategies to win hearts, to win souls? Because it's becoming increasingly difficult in this current modern day culture to get people to understand or realize their own holiness, their own call to holiness. That to be holy is not a very attractive concept anymore. But if you and I, the faithful, the ones who are in Peter's belt, the ones who are drinking the Kool-Aid, the ones who are coming here to a conference like this, if you and I can't get on the same page and say, yes, I do believe I can live a saintly life, I can do better by the grace of God, I will do better. If you and I cannot figure out how to live a more saintly life on a daily basis, then those that God's going to put in our circle of influence, those that God's going to put in that five foot circle around us on a daily basis, both friend, family, foe, how are they going to be introduced to the living gospel, to the living God? If we who are the most in the boat are not constantly self-aware, constantly discerning, how can I grow? And I wanted to offer this, when I first sat down planning this talk, I was going to focus on five specific saints, unpack different parts of their spirituality, different parts of their theology, and I came to realize it was far bigger than that. And I wanted to go one direction, the Holy Spirit said, no. No, but I'm really going to go over here, no. I came to realize there are certain things that all the saints have in common. I think sometimes when we hear you're supposed to be a saint, you say to ourselves, look, I have responsibilities, I've got a job, I've got a 401k. And it's not impressive. But Lord, how can I do that? I don't have the luxury of being offered a cell and a convent and a monastery somewhere. I've got mouths to feed. I've got mouths of mouths to feed. I've got bills to pay and doctor's appointments to make and television to catch up on. I'm so fearful that one day when I get to the pearly gates, St. Peter is going to look at me and say, here's how much you prayed. And here's how much time you spent watching Netflix. Or I should say, looking for something to watch on Netflix. Those two get juxtaposed, I'm in a lot of trouble. But maybe, just maybe, there are a few ways, a few things that if we, the faithful, we, the sons and daughters, if we keep these in mind on a daily basis, on the stressful Monday morning, on the Monday and Wednesday night, on the sin filled Friday or Saturday, if we can keep these four or five things, these strategies, these daily outlooks that the saints had, if we keep them at the forefront of our heart, and not the back of our mind, then we will grow in sanctity in a very, very profound way. We will become the next door neighbors, saints that Pope Francis was talking about, saints who live out of that ordinary holiness in their neighborhoods. So the first point, I'll begin with a story. It's a true story. Several years ago, before I was married, I have a beautiful wife, I have four beautiful kids, three of them are girls, hence the early gray. Several years ago, when I was working, I was just brand new into ministries about 23 years ago as a youth minister. Back then, if you're a youth minister, if you're in your 20s, if you have a coat hanger, it's most likely holding on the exhaust pipe on your car. I was not living in the greatest part of town, but I was living in a house. This is back when if you take all your furniture and I took it outside, I'd be out about 20 bucks. So it's not a great neighborhood. But at the end of the street was this wonderful elderly couple, Rob and Janice. And I would go down there from time to time to visit them to help them around the house. Rob had a lot of different medical issues. And I went out of their house one day. And as I walked into the living room, Rob was in his typical lazy boy. He liked to watch bass fishing. So me sitting with him like 15 minutes watching bass fishing was like a holy hour. So I sat next to him and we would discuss fishing, you know, and it's trying to keep him company, give his wife Janice a break. But I walked in this particular day and Rob had his left arm in a cast from his knuckles to his elbow. And this is really odd because Rob was not an athletic fellow. Rob's the kind of guy that could fall off the couch watching golf. So when I saw this cast, it was a bit of an excuse. Rob, what happened? What happened to your arm? He says, nothing happened in my arm. All right, Mark, nothing happened in my arm. Now any woman, any wife, especially in this room knows that when the male ego gets that defensive that quickly, there's a great story behind it. So what did I do as a good friend? Of course, I persisted. No, Rob, come on, what happened here? It doesn't matter what happened to my arm, Mark. Now I'm thinking this is going to be amazing. So now I'm a giddy 10 year old boy and bouncing up and down on the automatic handway. I said, Rob, come on, seriously. He looks at me, says, look, I broke my arm, battling a snake. I said, battling a snake? Who are you for? What do you mean battling a snake? I was battling a snake and he gets up out of his lazy boy and he walks into the kitchen. Now I'm completely perplexed. But at this moment, because God loves me, his wife, Janice walks into the room. Janice walks in. Like everybody said, Janice, what happened to Rob's arm? She says, oh, good Lord, is he gone? I've never been so excited. I'm now like this. I can't wait. She says, okay, we were going to do some gardening. She's got a real green thumb. So I went to get some, some little potted trees, some potted plants, some things to put out back, some things to put in our arboretum. So I was just going to do this whole thing. So we went over to the Home Depot and Rob was helping me because I'm not strong enough to pull in some of the potted plants and trees. So they went over to Home Depot, they loaded up the truck, they came back home. At this point, I should let you know, I'm from Arizona. I live in a desert. In the Home Depot where I live, you know, the places where the trees and the bushes are, they're all outdoors. Some Home Depots are closer to the desert than others. Fast forward back. They bring it back home. Janice goes to put on her gardening clothes. Rob has unloaded all the trees and the little flowers. He put them out back, some in the house for their indoor garden. And as he's unloaded them all, he's covered in dirt. He decides to go down to their master bedroom to wash all the dirt off. Janice comes out in her clothes. She's kneeling down in the living room. She's digging out one of the little potted trees. As she digs it out, unbeknownst to Janice, a small snake had been in the pot. As she digs it out, the snake comes out. And Janice, of course, went because Janice is deathly afraid of snakes. Not the best state to live in. Janice jumps up on top of the chair and starts screaming at the top of her lungs. Snake, snake, snake! Shouting. Rob is in the shower. Now, and I should prefer to. Rob is about 6'4, 260 some odd pounds. He's cover head to toe in soap. He can't make out the word snake. All he hears is his bride is shouting bloody murder from the front room. And because of the neighborhood we live in, Rob believes they've now been broken into. So Rob jumps out of the shower, doesn't grab a towel and goes running, sprinting down the hallway covered in water and lather. Runs in the front room standing there butt naked. It's the Garden of Eden all over again, everybody. Janice looks, he looks, he says, what is happening? It's a snake! It's a snake! It's a snake! There's a snake under the sofa! So Rob, in a way to investigate, gets down on all fours. And now Rob is like infantry going trying to find the snake underneath the couch. At this point their dog Rex, here's the ruckus, Rex comes bolting in the back door, the back doggy door, comes into the room. He sees Rob on all fours, Rex thinks Rob's trying to play. She's screaming snake, Rob's looking for the snake. Rex starts whipping around in circles. Rex's tooth catches Rob on the side. Rob thinks he's been bitten by the snake. Rob now passes out. So now Rob is passed out butt naked and lathered on the tile floor. Rex is very confused, Janice is very stressed because the year earlier Rob had had a heart attack and she now thinks Rob's had another. At this point our neighbor Hank, across the street, hears the commotion and he starts to come over to the front lawn, look through the window to investigate. She's shooing away Hank, she's worried about Rob, the snake is still loose, Rex is still very confused. Janice reaches down, pulls a cordless phone, dials 911. She's telling Hank everything's fine, looks for the ambulance, I think he had a heart attack. She's still shouting at this point the snake goes out underneath the other chair. She starts shouting again. Luckily we're right down the street from the fire department. Ambulance comes up, paramedics come running up to the door, they're knocking on the door, she says, come on! They open the door, the first paramedic comes through and right when the door opens Rex sees a chance for an escape and he takes off and the second paramedic runs after the dog. So now we've got a paramedic chasing a dog. We got one paramedic inside, very confused. A 260 pound passed out lathering man, a loose snake and a very desperate wife and a very confused neighbor. This point finally the other paramedic comes in, he's trying to turn Rob over as a great big guy as they're starting to turn him over to look at him and they have to sort of lift him because of where he is and start to lift him a little bit. He slips out of the paramedics hand because he's so lathery. Rob hits his arm on the coffee table and that's how Rob broke his arm battling a snake. Now here's the funny part. Janice finishes telling me this story. Rob now reenters the room holding a nice tea. I have never been happier in the history of my life. I've got tears streaming down my face. Rob comes this down and I looked at him with all fraternal love and I said battling a snake. He sat down he says oh great. And I said why wouldn't you tell me that story? He said did you not hear the story? He says Mark I got taken out by the family dog. And I said I'm not gonna lie to you Rob. That part stings. And that part is funny. And I'm going to share this story often. However I think you're looking at this all wrong. You see you thought that your wife, your bride was in danger. And in that moment without a thought of your self, complete self-sacrifice, complete self-gift, without even a thought of yourself, you immediately ran out of the shower, didn't even grab a towel which would have been a good idea, to run to her aid. It was completely selfless. It was an act of courage. You see in our society, in our culture we've been saw, sold this raw bill of goods, this raw bill of goods, that that courage is sort of the absence of fear. That's completely incorrect. The word courage is a fascinating word. It comes from two Latin words, core, like your heart, corasol, right, core, and israe which means to act. So quite literally to have courage does not mean not to be afraid, to have courage means the willingness to act from your heart, to allow your heart to move you forward when your brain might leave you standing still. I said, Rob, in that moment you were courageous for your wife, you were courageous for your sacrament, you showed courage you were led by your heart. I believe that's the first saintly strategy that we all need to pray. Oftentimes we pray for more courage when in fact what we should be praying for is that the Holy Spirit would unleash the hidden greatness of our souls, that the Holy Spirit would unleash our fullness of courage in this this culture we live in. Oftentimes we'll find ourselves in a situation when something needs to be said but we don't know how to say it. I don't know how I'm going to say it. I don't have my doctorate, I don't have a radio show, I don't have a book, I don't have a PhD, I don't have all this experience, I don't know how to say it. If I could just pack up Patrick Madrid and that beautiful mustache and take him home with me and let him fight my fight. See there are souls in this room that they'll come here every year and be inspired and uplifted but go home still feeling like you're lacking in something. When in fact you are a far greater evangelist especially in your home and community in Paris than we can ever hope to be. And oftentimes we feel like we're lacking in courage. If God would give me more courage I would speak up. The reality is that if we just had the willingness to act from our heart that in those moments we realized that God if he was calling you to have multiple degrees then you would. But you know what's interesting when they went to replace Judas and go back and read this in Acts chapter one. When they go to replace Judas as the 12th apostle who do they look for? Did they look for the person with the longest curriculum vitae with the most published titles? They didn't go to Nicodemus, thought about a good idea, he was already in good, they could have had some networking. I mean he was in with everybody. They didn't go to Nicodemus, they didn't even go to Joseph of Arimathea, the guy had money, they probably could have used a little bankrolling for the fledgling church. They didn't go to Joseph of Arimathea. If you go back and read the Acts do you know what it says? When it comes down to the two and the lot falls to Matthias, do you know what his curriculum vitae was? It said let us go and find someone who knows him, someone who walked with him, someone who knew him, someone who knew the Lord who was with us in his company. The prerequisite for becoming an apostle, for becoming this great evangelist and martyr was someone who knew God intimately, someone who knew Christ intimately. And you and I all have that gift, second to none, par excellence in the sacraments. Most specifically in the sacrament of Eucharist, we have the opportunity to to know Christ more intimately than any did before the last supper. Even those who slept beside him, those who walked beside him, cried beside him, laughed beside him. That first saintly strategy we need is to give the Holy Spirit permission to unleash our courage. In those moments when you don't know what to say or how to say it because someone questions your belief and you're going to hear all those tomorrow. In the workshop description tonight, in the workshops tomorrow, we're going to find this Catholic minds the church has to offer and they will be there to give you the words, to give you the verses, to give you the catechism paragraphs, the obscure saints, conversation beginners and a lot of conversation ender. They'll give you all the information. But at the end of the day if we lack courage, at the end of the day if we think I'm just not going to say it right, so I'll say nothing. Because I can't say it this way, I'll say nothing. What have we achieved? Even if you're standing there, whether you're online in a live conversation, on a phone call, you're standing there even if your legs are shaking because you don't know how to articulate the truth of the church, the doctrinal truths as beautifully as someone else. Even if your legs are shaking, we need to have the courage and remember that we have a rock that's 2,000 years old and that rock is not shaking beneath us. It's not moving, but it's there. Praise be to God it's there, and hell could do nothing to stop it, amen? So we need to have that courage, number one. Number two, I feel like we've lost our perspective. Perspective is another interesting word, para espacare. Perspective doesn't just mean to look at something, it actually means to look through something, to look beyond the immediate and to see the end game, to see the long game. Saints could laugh, saints had a sense of humor, saints had a 30,000 foot perspective, even though their feet were firmly planted on earth. To have a divine perspective means to see things the way that God sees them. My wife and I were in the holy land, Napa. Oh you thought I meant the, no, no. You know, yeah we love the holy land. We love Napa Sonoma. You know, I don't agree with a lot of what Luther said, but he did get this one right. He said, man makes beer, God makes wine. So we're in the holy land, we're in Napa, and we're out of the vineyard. It was just during harvest one year, and I'd always want to go see harvest. Usually we go in the spring, but you go towards the fall and you can go see them actually taking the grapes off the vines. So it's very, it's very, very labor-intensive. Sitting there drinking wine, watching people do this. It's very labor-intensive. So I'm on a patio with my beautiful wife Melanie, and it's towards the end of the day. Now these men and women have been working really hard. At some of the cheaper low-run vineyards, they just have vacuums that go out there, they suck all the grapes in, and the tree frogs, and the branches, and blah. But the good, the good vineyards, right, the good vineyards, they're all there by hand. They're taking such good care of those grapes. Oh, they're taking such good care. So I'm sitting there, and we've had a couple of drinks in the sun is setting, and it's romantic, and watching the end of day, and those who've been working diligently, working in the vineyard, are all now kind of walking over, they're washing their hands, they're heading out the back entrance, and almost everybody's escaped from the vineyard, almost everybody's left, and I was reminded of all these great parables from Matthew, all these agrarian parables about the vineyard. I was taking back to John 15, I'm the vine, and you are the branches, and I said, I never want to leave this place, this is like the transfiguration. Just give me three tenths in another bottle, I'm not going anywhere. Scratch that, reverse it, give me another bottle in three tenths. So as I sat there, but there was this one worker, and he just kept going. Everyone else had petered out, they left, but he just kept going, kept going, kept going, and he fascinated me, I was enthralled, I was entranced, look at his work ethic, look at him go, he's been out there for hours, and he's not slowing down. And then the most fascinating thing happened. He picked the last couple of grapes, he walked over, took his bag off, washed his hands, and instead of going out the back entrance, he began to walk up the stairs towards the tasting room, and I thought to myself, I'm going to buy that guy a drink, but before I could, he goes to the back, comes out in a fresh shirt, ties on an apron, and starts pouring wine. I said, this guy's the employee of the month, and I called the waiter over, and I said, I got it, is this guy just, does he have a big family? He's just working overtime, like what's going on? He says, that guy right there, I said, yeah, I said, that's the owner. That's the owner? So I was fascinated, so he came over and says, how's everything going today? I said, can I have five minutes of your time? And he was kind of perplexed, and I said, I'd realized it was a weird request, but you'll realize in a minute, I'm very weird. And my wife says, yes, he's very weird. I said, thank you, honey. He sat down, we had the most amazing conversation for 20, 25 minutes, and I said, how do you have the energy? I said, I'm a boss, I've got a staff, I know what it's like to work those 12 and 14, 16 hour days, I know. How do you sell the energy, and how are you still smiling at the end of all this? You've been picking grapes under the sun for 12 hours, not going to come up here and pour wine for two or three more. Are you kidding me? How do you have the energy to do this? And he looked at me without missing a beat, and he says, because when I'm out there, I'm not picking grapes, I'm making wine. And I sat back and I said, that, that's perspective, that's perspective, that's understanding the long game. And that's what Pope St. John Paul II did so well. That's what he got. He got the long game. Yes, he was immersed in the politics of the day. Shoulder, shoulder, fighting communism, but he never forgot the end goal. He never forgot that the end vision. He never, he never lost that drive. When he instituted a World Youth Day, so you think he could have, he could have envisioned how big they'd become. Nobody knew what he did. He understood the long game. You want to keep the church young, go get the young. You want to keep the church growing, go get those who have yet to grow. In 1983 in May, this one, the Sandinistas were rising in Nicaragua. It's in the middle of the revolution. The revolution in Nicaragua over a span of 10, 15 years claimed 30,000 lives. As the Sandinistas were rising in the contras, he was supposed to go to Nicaragua on a papal visit. And the Archbishop in the Cardinal called and said, it's too tumultuous, you cannot come. And he said, come meet me tomorrow. They said, we're in Nicaragua, you're in Rome. He says, come meet me tomorrow. So they went. Got on the first flight out, went to Rome. They sat down with JP2. John Paul II says, what should we do? They said, you should cancel the event. He looked at him again, he says, what should we do? They said, you should cancel the event, your holiness. He says, what should we do? They said, we should keep the event? He said, yes. They said, we don't even know if they'll even let anybody come to see you. He says, I'll come to see those who come to see me. And he got on a plane and he went. This was really interesting. The government had all had the whole place set up. They installed a second sound system. They had a whole section reserved in the front. And a day before the event, they told the Vatican about the second sound system that had previously been a secret. And hours before the event, they flooded all those reserved seats with all their own supporters. And in May of 1983, when John Paul II said mass in Nicaragua, there's a sea a quarter of a mile in front of the front of the stage. You can read about this more in George Wagill's book in the biography of John Paul II. It's a beautiful story. There's a sea of people and they're all shouting and shaking their fists as he's trying to preach his homily and condemning him, shouting out their support for their regime, trying to silence them. But a mile back behind all the barriers and barricades, 100,000 Catholics who came to see John Paul II all flooded in so far away. And in the midst of all this in the middle of his homily, they turned on the second sound system to try to drown him out. And he keeps preaching and he keeps drowning him out. And John Paul II, because he understood he had perspective, he saw the long game. He knew it wasn't about success that day. He knew it was about planting that seed of faith and love that over time will become fine wine. Over time is going to germinate and take root. And he raised his crozier into the sky in a way that communicates all the faithful a mile away. He began shaking it back and forth, waving to them in effect, saying, I came for you. I came to see you. And as they kept trying to talk over him, and finally he just took his crozier and he slammed it down on the stage and he said, Silenzio. And it went silent. And that great saint prayed that day. You see, he knew the success that day was not dependent upon the fruit that day bore. And that's why we need to keep perspective. Some of us become disheartened. We're even frustrated. We try to evangelize others because we're not seeing the fruit. We want to shake our heads. We want to scratch our skin off sometimes because that soul that we so desperately desire to know Jesus' love just isn't getting it. But if you and I could keep the long game, keep the perspective to realize that we're not called to see the fruit. In fact, we should pray against the desire to see the fruit. He called us to till, to remove the rocks, remove the impediments, remove the thorn and the thistle, to till and to sow. To share the seed of the word, to sow. And maybe just maybe God in His mercy, if He's feeling really merciful, He might throw us a bone and we might get to see the fruit in little moments here and there, those little theophanies here and there. But we have to rejoice like that winemaker did. Rejoice like the tenant farmers instead of saying, well, I can't believe you're paying me this little. I've been here all day. Instead, we need to have the heart of a saint need to go forward and say, I am so thankful for the privilege just to be in your vineyard. I'm so thankful for the privilege that you would have trust this gospel message to me, a message of mercy and of peace. I'm so overwhelmed God that you look past my unworthiness as a sinner and want to include me in this mission of evangelization and salvation. I'm so overwhelmed I fall on my knees every morning. And I thank God for every single cross that has a name in my life. Every single cross who rolls their eyes at me, every single cross that says mean things to me on social media, every single cross, even in my own family who repudiates me, God, I thank you for them. What a gift to be able to go to the cross with you. To keep our perspective, instead of every conversation where we just want to tell them that I went to this session and it took all these notes and you should hear, you should hear what this priest said about the seven deadly sins and you're doing pretty well on six of them. Or instead, to take a more Augustinian approach, a more Socratic approach, asking questions, showing that we care about their soul, but we also care about their life. How much of our conversation is Jesus talk. But how many, how much of a conversation anymore? It's just asking questions. We live in a society where we're so screen obsessed, we've lost the art of conversation. And if that person that we're speaking to does not genuinely think and understand and believe in their soul of souls that we care about their soul more than their conversion, it doesn't matter what words you say. But they have to believe first and foremost that you love them. Trust is the result of knowing that you're loved. And if the soul we're speaking to does not trust us, they're not going to trust the message. They're not going to trust our experience of the living God. That's number two perspective. Number three, are we docile to the spirit? Are we spirit led? Most people, if I show this image, for some of you in here, that sends fear through your heart. That part you're in a roller coaster at the base is going click, click, click, click, click, click, click, and you're thinking to yourself, why did I pay money to do this? Is this going to come off the rails? Is the 16 year old eating the churro? Is he checked out of this equipment? Is he supposed to be pressing that button? There's no way he's old enough. This roller coaster is five times older than he is. Why am I in this roller coaster? And there's this nervousness. Whenever I anytime something says, what does it mean to be led by the Holy Spirit? This is the image I go to. This is what it means to live a life led by the Holy Spirit. You're in the car, but you ain't in control, baby. The Holy Spirit is your lap belt, is your harness. You see, here's the problem. 95% of us are control freaks. And the other 5% are in self denial. Because most of us, although we say we want a life led by the Spirit, open to the Spirit, docile to the Spirit, led by the Spirit. This is what we really desire. It's safe. It's controlled. You're like, hey, Mark, don't kid yourself. Those carousels can be deadly, man. You're right. You're right. Oh, no, now I am going in a circle. Oh, no, now I'm going up and down in a circle, up and down in a circle. Whatever shall I do? It's safe. It's comfortable. Look, I'm on the ride. No, to be Spirit led. No, to be Spirit led means you're on the roller coaster. Are you Spirit led? Do you walk into those danger zones? Do you walk into those conversations not to destroy somebody with your knowledge, but to love them with your mercy? Do you flee the fight or do you seek it? Do you trust those who are from Exodus 14? The God is the God. He's going to fight the battle for you. He'll go ahead of you. He'll fight the battle for you. Do you trust in the promises of Scripture that He'll uplift you and uphold you? That He'll never abandon you. He's always with you, that He sings over you. Do you believe in that promise enough to put yourself out there? Even when you're fearful, even when you can't control it. And if you're thinking to yourself, how do I become more Spirit led? It takes giving the Spirit permission every single day. Holy Spirit, I give you permission to wreck my best laid plans. Holy Spirit, I give you permission to unleash the hidden greatness of my soul. And even the great saints weren't great at it at first. But I love this passage. This is really a spirit passage in Acts chapter 16. Listen to how St. Paul, listen to how docile he is to the Spirit. They traveled through the Phrygian in Galatian territory because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the message in the province of Asia. Did you catch that? Paul's plan was to go east. We're going to go to Asia with the gospel. All right, it's going to be great. Holy Spirit says no. What do you mean no? We're going to preach in the gospel here. They need the Jesus. No. And Paul says fine, plan B. Okay, they prevented from the province of Asia. Plan B. Chapter 16 verse 7. When they came to Misia, they tried to go on to Bethany, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. Wait, what? God, can you help me out here? I'm trying to do your work for you. I'm the missionary here. I'm the one that's leaving. I'm the one that's going. I'm the one that's preaching. Plan A. Nix. Plan B. Nix. How often do you get to plan C with God? How often are you so in tune with the Holy Spirit that when you're first, your bestly plans don't go well, you don't fold up your tents and head home. But you go on to plan B. Okay, Holy Spirit, what else do you want? Oh, plan B is not going to go either? Plan C. That's a life of desolity. That's a life of obedience, a life of humble-blownness. That's a life led by the Spirit. See, many of us, we sort of fear that relationship with the Holy Spirit. God the Father, he's in heaven. Keep him there, nice and safe. I like it. Jesus is in the tabernacle. Like that red candle. Oh, good. I just don't know you're there. You're there when I need you. You're my catechetical rabbit's foot, right? But the Holy Spirit says, whoa, no, whoa, uh-uh. Doves make, no. They make a mess. Put the pigeon in the cage. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is going to take you places you don't want to go. You know what it says in the Gospel of John? The Holy Spirit is going to convict you of your own sin. The Holy Spirit is what we have to get through our heads. The Holy Spirit's job isn't to make us happy. The Holy Spirit's job is to make us holy by the grace of God. But we have to give him permission. We have to get out of the way. We have to be in tune, in rhythm. We have to live in docility. We actually have to be willing. This is hard for us to get outside of our Catholic bubble. I spoke with this beautifully this afternoon. Most of us exist in sort of a Catholic bubble. It doesn't make it bad. We like being around like-like minded, like-hearted people. We like how-we like to know how people around us are going to pray, how they think, how they act. And let's be honest, most of us are so Catholic. It looks like our house looks like a Catholic gift shop just threw up. Right? I mean, you can't go three feet Nazi or crucifix in most of our houses, okay? Let's be honest. And that's a great thing. That's a great thing. But as we learn from all the great characters in Scripture, God doesn't do amazing things with most people until he moves them out of their comfort zone. You go through all the patriarchs. I'm going to move you. So when I move you out of your comfort zone, you're going to rely more on me. And if you feel like God has moved you out of your comfort zone, buckle up, get in the roller coaster. But if you feel like he hasn't moved you out of your comfort zone, give the Holy Spirit permission during adoration, during mass, during quiet time, give permission to reveal maybe where you've grown too comfortable or maybe where you've tried to avoid change. Next, we need to look at our brokenness differently. In 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge was completed. And on May 28th that year, FDR hit a telegraph key and he said it is open. Took four years to make, 10 men died, dozens more would have if they hadn't installed a net underneath it. Almost three, almost three quarters of a mile long. The final cost was over $35 million, which at the time was a lot of money. Now it's one season in the NBA. $35 million. There's huge international orange. This was some people called an architectural wonder, others called an architectural monstrosity. It was completed. It was put into the harbor where the where the waves can get up to seven knots. Four years of working on this, $35 million, which weighs over 900,000 tons. But in 1951, a hurricane swept through San Francisco Harbor. Hurricanes don't hit up there very often, but it has happened here and there. So when the hurricane comes through with 75 mile an hour gusts, it knocks the Golden Gate 12 and a half feet out of alignment. And those who pay for it and those who live there, especially because of the nuisance it was, they were really, really upset and they demanded answers. So they called the architects in front of the city planning board and the commission and the mayor, we want answers. $35 million, one lousy hurricane, it goes 12 and a half feet out of out of alignment. And we looked at the architect and said, explain yourself. Do you know what the designer said? I was never worried. I built it to bend 18. You see God, your divine designer, my divine designer, he knows your threshold. If you find yourself in a situation that feels beyond you, that you can't handle those moments of suffering long or short, just just beyond it or too much, it's actually the greatest affirmation God can give you because God believes in you more than you believe in yourself. This is why St. James in chapter one says consider it joy when you encounter trials and sufferings. Consider it joy. This is why Jesus says, hey, in this world you will have trouble. I'm telling you that so that you'll be peaceful. What? I will have trouble, but I pray my daily rosary. I know you'll still have trouble. I show up early to mass. You'll still have trouble. I'm on the parish council. You'll still have trouble. Probably a lot more, actually. This is why in 1 Corinthians in 10, it says we will never be overcome. No, temptation is too great. Let's see God can refine us. In fact, when we see our brokenness, it's in that brokenness, in that emptiness, in that suffering, those areas of our life where we've suffered and when we're broken, when we feel unusable, that's where God's glory is made manifest. That's where the kingdom is made manifest. That's why St. Paul considers his weakness such a blessing. I came across this beautiful form of art, Japanese art called Kintsugi. And in this, you see, our Japanese brothers and sisters, they had this vision. They said, when something breaks, our Western mindsets throw it away. It's no longer useful. But what they wanted to say was, no, because there's a history in this. This goes back several centuries. There was a powerful Japanese Lord and he had broken a teacup. He sent it, it was his favorite teacup. He sent it to this different artist to see they could somehow glue it back together. And they figured out they took a lacquer and they put gold and infused gold into it that they could now reform this strong adhesive glue and bring it back together again. But for them, it became a form of art because every bowl, every dish, every cup had a history and a story of meals shared, of good times and bad times. But what they understood was if you take something valuable like gold and you fuse it into it, not only will it hold it together, but it holds the memories intact. This is how God's grace works. This is how the sacraments work. We walked in with our brokenness and God hands us back new, remade, filled with his grace. Why? To reflect his glory. Not just to preserve our history, but to reflect his glory. His glory shines through our brokenness. His love shines through our brokenness and it's by our brokenness, sharing our brokenness. What do all the great saints have in common? They're constantly sharing their brokenness, sharing their sufferings. Go to 2 Corinthians 11, see what Paul says. Go read Teresa of Avila. Go read Mother Teresa. All those decades of silence. What do all the saints have in common? They all suffered big and small, but they suffered. But they used it as a means to show forth the glory of God. My brothers and sisters, we too can do that. I live in Arizona. The most beautiful thing in the world is to sit and watch the sunrise on the Grand Canyon. And as I sat and I watched, it struck me. Before we can be hallowed, we need to be hallowed. Before you and I can be hallowed, God's going to hollow us out. He's going to make room. He's going to call us out of our sin through His Spirit. He wants to fill us with His grace, His life. That's what makes us hallowed. That's what makes the saints hallowed. That's what we look to them on all hallowed Eve, all saints day. They're the hallowed ones. That in them, they're the ones that the light shines through. And with those people in your life, your kids, your grandkids, your spouses, your neighbors, your coworkers, the strangers you see in the grocery, in the restaurant, in traffic, when everyone is oh, so patient. It's by our lives. And when we enter into a true conversation, authentic relationship, when we share our brokenness, we don't walk in and say, look, I'm the Catholic who's got it all together. Look at my perfect Christmas card. Look at all my kids named after saints. The Catholic that comes in says, see how my rosary is perfectly draped across my coffee table? And look at my Bible. Don't touch it because if you open it, it'll make a cracking sound. But look at it. But if instead, we just said, you know what? I'm going to share my brokenness with you, that I'm not perfect, that I am a sinner, and that I have a God who still loves me. Saint Gemma, if you really want to love Jesus, first learn to suffer because suffering leads to love. If you really want to love Jesus, learn how to suffer. And what happens when we share our brokenness, but we share it with peace and a smile is exactly what St. Peter prophesied in this first letter. He said, be prepared. Be prepared when people come to you. Be prepared when people come to you and they're looking for the reason for your hope. Be prepared. That's a huge presupposition. What that means is you and I are living in such a way of uncontrolled, unmitigated joy and peace, even in moments of suffering and brokenness that people are coming to us saying, how are you still standing? How are you still smiling? How are you so joyful, so peaceful? Your life is a mess. You said, yes. But Christ, through his glory, fused me back together in my brokenness to make a work of art. That you know what, that even in my worst moments, he never abandoned me. Like he promised in Zephaniah, even though I'm lying at night sleeping, crying, he never abandoned me. He's singing over me. It says in Zephaniah 3 that he carved my name in his hand. It says in Isaiah 49 that he doesn't call me sinner or slave. He calls me son. He calls me daughter by virtue of our baptism. So to share our brokenness, that's saintly. And number five is the natural conduit and offshoot of it. The fifth strategy, we need to be a people of joy. We need to learn how to laugh again at holy things. We need to be able to keep that perspective, the right perspective leads to joy. Nehemiah 810, the joy of the Lord is my strength. You know when they said that, it's some of the worst days in history. When they're out rebuilding the temple out in the sun, not a pain in their name, trying to learn how to be a family again. The joy of the Lord will be our strength. We look to the saints like John the 23rd, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Philip Neary. He's here as a doctor of the church, brilliant. But he would shave off half his beard and walk through town just to start a conversation with somebody. He wasn't afraid to be considered silly. He would use humor, joy, people like Fulton Sheen. People that will use humor and joy, realizing that that's one of the greatest gifts that we have to find that common ground. Do you know the only place, the only place in scripture that it says that Jesus rejoiced? It only says it one time in the Gospels that Jesus rejoiced. You're so Catholic. OK, I'll tell you. I'm just kidding. People are going, oh, oh, oh, no, oh, no. It's in one of the four. Yes, it's in one of the four. Gospel of St. Luke chapter 10. And this is after Jesus has sent out the 72 in pairs. He's taken farmers and tradesmen. He's equipping them and viewing them with the power of the spirit they're going off. And they're healing people and they're casting out demons. Now, if you're a farmer, you're used to working with oxen and yolk. And all of a sudden, you're quote, you're using the name of Jesus and demons are flying out. You're feeling pretty good about yourself. And this is the part in chapter 10. When they come back, they've been on a mission. They're coming back to report to the boss. Everything that's been going on. Listen to these beautiful words. Luke chapter 10, verse 17. The 72 returned rejoicing and said, Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name. And Jesus said, I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, everybody says, behold, that means if you're not paying attention in the back, lean in. You, Nathaniel. Lean in. Behold, I have given you the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Next time you're afraid about the response on social media, afraid of how to engage in the conversation, afraid it's going to make a situation awkward with a barista or over Thanksgiving meal with the in-law, Jesus says to you, hey, Catherine, behold, I have given you the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and in-laws and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. He says, nevertheless, and this part's so poignant, nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you. Rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Then at that very moment, he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that although you've hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you've revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. Do you see what he did? Don't rejoice just because you came to a conference. Don't rejoice because of the position you hold in your parish, the committees, the titles. Don't rejoice because of the number of books you've read. Don't rejoice because of the amount of hours of radio or television you've consumed that led you in your faith. Don't rejoice because you've raised good kids. Don't rejoice because of any of those things. Those are all rejoiced worthy and you should be happy and God is happy for you. But that's not why we rejoice. Don't rejoice because of all the things that you've done for the church or the parish or the diocese. Don't rejoice because all the things you've done in God's name rejoice because the Father knows yours. Rejoice because he knows yours and he's carved it in his hand so that even when you're not thinking about him, he's thinking about you. And even when you're nervous about how that situation is gonna go, how the conversation is gonna go, what you're gonna say next, what you're gonna do next, you don't have to because the Father is pleased, he wants to give you good things because the Father loves you. Because the Father loves you. Think about how much you love your own kids, your own grandkids. Think about how much you love the people in your home and your parish, those you grew up with in your community. Think about how much you love them, how much you love them. Now multiply it by nine million and you're still not even scratching the surface of the love of God. It's going to be in our joy. Does joy mean that we're never afraid? No. Does joy mean that everything's going our way? No. But it means we've taken on a divine perspective. It means we know the end score. It means that we have access to the Father through the Son. We're filled with the Spirit. It means that you and I get to have the body, blood, soul, and divinity course of God, course through our veins that we were born into or found or led to. God's greatest gift to us on earth in the Catholic Church. That is a cause for joy. That is a cause for peace. And if we can maintain that joy, if we can unleash the greatness of our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit, if we have the courage to follow our hearts, to keep a holy perspective, to see the end game, if we have that willingness, that willingness to allow God to fuse us back together in our brokenness, to be led by the Spirit in places we're not wanting to go necessarily, to be filled with God's joy. So when people are coming to us, they see not us, but God. Now you're living a saintly life. But now you're living the tract of life. Now you're living a life that evangelizes, not just sacramentalizes. And that's where true change begins. Because the change people so desperately need is not a thing, it's a who. And his name is Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Name the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Father Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on us for we are sinners. Yet you look through our unworthiness, Lord, and you declare great worth. Lord, this night and the spirit of holy boldness and humble boldness, Lord God, I wanna pray for any soul in this room who has given up on another soul. Family member, friend, foe. Any soul in this room, Lord God, who's tried and tried and tried again, but for lack of success has grown too frustrated. And Lord, I ask that you renew those spirits tonight in a bold way, that you would renew us again, God, that we would never, ever, ever give up on a soul. Lord God, I wanna pray especially for those family members who are looking for you in all of the wrong places and who are far from you physically or spiritually this night. And Lord God, we claim them in your name. We cover them, Lord God. We ask you to pour out your sacred blood over them, God. We ask you to be with our families, our friends, our parishes that you would cover our parishes, our homes, our domestic sanctuaries, our domestic churches with your sacred blood, God. Lord God, we ask that you would cover this campus this weekend, that our minds and our hearts would be open but that you'd station your angels around to deflect all the slings and the arrows of the evil one. And Lord God, we thank you in your mercy, in your great mercy for the imitation to know you as Father. Lord God, we say yes to this call to St. Hood with quivering lips and shaking legs. We say yes, God, and we ask you and we beg you for the grace for the day to be our daily bread, to fill us with what we need and we might live a life worthy of the gospel, live a life of a shining example, live a life of a sinner who knows mercy by name. And Mother Mary and St. Joseph, we ask as always that you pray with us and for us, pray with us when we pray and pray for us when we fail to. We pray Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you, and blessed is the fruit of life.