 Alright brothers, we begin taking a look at Zechariah 4 and the text, well, I'll just read and we'll kind of talk a little bit about it. The angel of the Lord spoke to me and returned and aroused me like one awakening from asleep. He said to me, What do you see? I replied, a lamp stand, all gold and a bowl on top of it. There are seven lamps and seven spouts and each of the lamps on top of it. And beside each of it are two olive trees, one to the right bowl and one to the left. Then I said to the angel who spoke with me, What are these things, my Lord? And the angel who spoke to me and replied said, Do you not know what these things are? I said, No, my Lord. Then he said to me, This is the word of the Lord to Zarebabel, Not by might, nor by power, but by the power of your Holy Spirit, says the Lord God of hosts. Amen. Amen. Zarebabel had brought with, Joshua brought the people back. So they were in exile, the Israelites were in exile and he brings them back to Jerusalem and he's got basically one main task and that is to be able to restore the temple. Now, who was it that was talking earlier? I think Deacon this morning was talking about the temple being destroyed. So he's got to come back and he's got to build this. So this vision happens probably about 17 years after they've already been back in Jerusalem, trying to restore, to renew, to rebuild the temple. I love this text because he gets this great image and the angel of the Lord says, Don't you know what this means? And he says, As I do a lot of times, I got no idea. I mean, the Lord will show me something and he goes, Now you realize what I'm trying to say to you, right? Let's just go over this one more time, Lord. A little bit of clarity. So it really doesn't have a sense of what the Lord is trying to say to him and how he's trying to lead him. And what has happened is they've been there for 17 years and little of the restoration has taken place. They say maybe the new cornerstone has been put on. For those of you, my guess is you know what it is to renovate something. So that's what he's called to do. He's called to come back and he's called to renovate this temple and renew it and make it new again. And yet it's not progressing like they had thought. So when he says it's not by might or by power, well, we have to take a look at that. When he hears that word that it says it's not going to be by might, it's not going to be by power. The idea of the word might takes a look at the resources necessary. So do you have the gold? Do you have the stones? Do you have the bricks? Do you have the mortar? Do you have all of these things that you're going to need in order to renew the temple? And it says that it's not by might. So you can have all of that kind of thing and that's not necessarily mean that you're going to be able to do it. So it's not by might or the resources necessary. Nor is it by power. The idea of power in this vision implies motivation. Do you have the desire? Do you have the will? Do you have the passion? Do you have the motivation to be able to do this? The determination to be able to do this. So he's saying it's not by might. I have the resources. It's not merely by power. I have the motivation. I have the desire of the passion to be able to do it. So if that's not going to do it, what in fact is going to do it? How is this temple going to be renovated? How is it going to be made new again? I've had the opportunity to be very, very blessed and be able to go on pilgrimage. And that's part of, I guess, my ministry. Usually once or twice a year I get to take people on pilgrimage to really some of the most holy sites in the world. And again, it's a great blessing. I never imagined when I was ordained that I was going to be able to go to some of the places that I'd been able to go. But there's one particular time I was taking a friend of mine and we were going on pilgrimage to a place very, very dear to our lady. It was in the Notre Dame's football stadium. And we were going there at the time of the renovation. So the football stadium was being renovated. And I was talking to this friend of mine and talking about how they were spending all this kind of money to renovate it and make it bigger and just talking about the amount of money that was being spent. And he said, well, why don't they just tear it down and build a new one? I know. He had no idea what he was saying. I shared that story with my mother. And my mother said, yeah, why don't you just tear down the Vatican while you're at it? Huh? But there becomes this issue when you're looking at something on whether or not it's best to just tear it down and start all over again or whether or not it's best to renovate something. Renovation is difficult. Rebuilding. Renovation. Renewal. Choose the word that you want to use. And that it's difficult. And at some times, there are probably instances where we feel it's just better to just tear it down. Let's just tear the whole thing down and start all over. And I suggest, in fact, that that's easier because when we tear it down, we get to do whatever we want. We don't work with what's necessarily there. And yet, that's not always the case. In fact, most of the times, that's not the case. Some friends of mine live in Houston and in those of you familiar with what's going on in Houston right now, over the last year, there's been flooding. And why they're suggesting that there's flooding that's going on in Houston. But just a little over a year ago, their house was flooded. Within about a period of about an hour, they had four feet of water in the ground floor of their house. They were stuck on top on the second floor for about 12 hours. Not knowing, not sure about how much the water was going to rise. Well, this was an incredibly stressful situation for them. I mean, they lost, it's not just the things, but it's the personal things that they lost. Their wedding pictures were ruined. Some of the things that their children had made when they were younger were ruined. So they went through this whole process after the flood. Are we going to just tear it down? Are we going to renovate? Well, there were a couple of groups of people that lived in that neighborhood. They decided to renovate immediately, and they began the renovation project of which they've been finishing over them over the last six or eight weeks. Again, if you're paying attention, there was another flood about three weeks ago. They made their house once again was flood. In this flood zone that you get a flood every 100 years, or two in a year. Now this couple has come to the place that they've realized that they have to tear down their house, and they have to start all over. And while that's a luxury perhaps that they have to be able to tear down and start all over, the reality is rarely in life do we get that option. So we have to ask ourselves what does renewal look like given the reality that I can't simply tear down and start again. I suggest that when we look at the history of some of the religious communities, those communities that have renewed within, there's a grace in that. There's a particular grace in that because it's much more difficult. It's easier to surround ourselves if we want to renew our parish. That's what we like. And everybody that thinks the same way we think and everybody that wants to do what Father wants to do, I suggest that renewal is much easier that way. Amen? But usually our church doesn't work like that. It seems to me that that's exactly what our Protestant brothers and sisters have done. Is that they surround themselves and then they split and they split. But that's not how it works with us. But renewal is necessary. When we take a look at the history of the church, we see times of renewal projects both in the church and the structures of the church but also in the spiritual life of the church. For the last several years, I was working in Washington, D.C. or before I moved five years, I guess it's been five years ago now. And the parish that I was helping out was having a discussion about how they were going to renovate their parish. That process took two pastors and dozens of parishioners so frustrated with the whole process leaving. Renovation, restoration, renewal is difficult. And I think it's important that we sit with that and we wrestle with that because somewhere along the line we thought that this all was supposed to be easier. But when we're doing a renovation project on a building, say, okay, we take a look at it and we take a look at what's good, what's bad, what can be kept, what can be discarded and that process that we do with the building is also a process that each one of us do in our parish life but that also in our own spiritual life. Francis is before the San Damiano Cross and here's the Lord speak to him, Francis, rebuild my church. It's falling into ruins around you. Now, for some just to be able to say that, some might find that offensive. But what would you possibly say the church is falling into ruins around you? But unless we're open to the possibility or to the necessity, the renewal is possible and that God is asking us to be a part of that, then we're never going to be able to see change. We're never going to be able to see renovation. So what does Francis do? He hears this, the Lord speak to him in this cross and it begins to literally rebuild the church of San Damiano and then he goes to other little churches in the Asesian in the Umbrian Valley and he begins to rebuild them because that's what the Lord told him to do, rebuild these churches. But then he understands eventually that it's not merely about this little church but it's about the larger church. And oftentimes that's where we stop. We all know that story of Francis and it wasn't just building a church, it was building a bigger church but if we go even further, it wasn't even the church, it was him. There was he himself that needed to be rebuilt. He himself that needed to be transformed. And over the years Francis came to understand that it's not only the church and it's not only the building but it's his heart and that his heart needed to be rebuilt and his heart needed to be changed and it was literally falling to ruins. And it took time for Francis to understand that. And it took time for him to understand what that meant. So that if we take a look at the end of Francis' life, we hear Francis say, brothers, let us begin for up until now we have done little. This man who perhaps is one of the greatest saints, I am somewhat partial, but has been called the mirror of Christ. On his deathbed is aware that he still needs transformation because up until now we've done little. The main charism of my Francis community is conversion, specifically Metnoia with this understanding, brothers, that our conversion is never complete, that I am never done, that there's never a time that I can go before the Lord and I say, I got it. Finally I'm there. You know, I've been 20 years a priest now 25 years in vows and I'm thinking the next 25 years I'm floating because I've finally made it, amen. Brothers, the day that we're there is the day that we've got serious struggle and problem. So for my community it's this process of constant conversion, but the reality is that that's difficult because as Pope Francis has been saying time and time again, we like comfort and I think I'm going to get to this later, I think it's one of the greatest sins that we as religious and priests are guilty of and that is we just want our comfort. We want our time, we want our comfort, we don't want to be bothered, we want everyone to do what we want them to do and life is going to be so much more comfortable, amen. But the reality is Pope Francis is reminding us that spiritual life was never meant to be comfortable. Oh, sorry Frank. Would you like to comment? Keep going? Doing alright? Good, good. You let me know, okay? I suppose the difference between us and a building is you can look at the friends of mine in Houston you can look at that home and you can say okay, this needs to be rebuilt. It needs to be torn down. But that's not your story. In fact, it's actually impossible. I'm almost positive we don't get another shot at this. We don't die and we get to have this total rebuilt and rebuilt and get to do it all over. I'm almost positive we don't get to do that again, amen. So if we don't get a total rebuilt, what do we need? It seems to me we need a renovation. We need renewal. We take a look at 2nd Timothy 1.6. You've all heard it before. For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the spirit of God. I remind you to stir into flame the spirit of God that you have through the imposition of hands. For God did not give you a spirit of cowardice, but rather power and love and self-control. Do not be ashamed of your testimony. I mean, when Paul is writing and he's saying for this reason I remind you to stir in the flame. I mean, how long ago had he received the spirit? I mean, and Paul is already writing him and telling him I want to remind you that you had received that flame, that you had been given that gift that somebody had stopped and they'd laid hands on you and you'd experienced the presence of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit. But Paul is already saying that something has changed that you had this passion and you had this zeal and you had this closeness to the Lord, and that's already dwindling. Stir into flame once again. He's saying to Timothy, you've already had this spirit and it's already run dry and you've already become cold. Stir into flame once again. Brothers and sisters, that's each one of our stories all the time, amen. The time that we say that we don't need to stir in the flame anymore, I've all got it, is the time that we have serious struggle and difficulties and problems. So we go before the Lord and we say stir into flame once again. And it seems to me, brothers, that we need to be able to go before the Lord and have an honest appraisal and ask the Lord, how am I doing? When I take a look at my spiritual life and being faithful to you and being faithful to the call that you've given to me as a priest, deacon, married person, seminarian, as a basic Christian, disciple of Jesus Christ, how am I doing? How is it that I become stagnant? That I become tired? I mean, how do we do this appraisal? First off, brothers, we need to be praying. We need to continually going before the Lord and we've heard this theme several times of allowing the Lord to look at us. The Holy Spirit shows us ourself when we take a look at John 16.8. Ah, let's see. Let's see, let's see. I tell you the truth that is better that I go, and I always question that. Really, Jesus, is it better? I tell you the truth that is better that I go for if I do not go, the advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you and when he comes to you, he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation. Huh? I mean, how do we have this honest appraisal? We go before the Lord and we say, Spirit of God, convict me. Spirit of God, consume me. Just consume me and show me myself. Not only my sin, we're going to talk about that in a moment, but also my righteousness. I mean, how do I have an honest appraisal about where we are, where I am before the Lord? We go before the Lord and we ask the Holy Spirit as we hear in the Psalms that you would probe me, that you would look at me, that you would see me, that you would reveal me. Convict me of my sin. The Lord convicts us to convert us, not condemn us. Amen? Convict me of my sin, Lord, but also convict me of my righteousness. We need to be able to go before the Lord and seek the grace of the Holy Spirit to have an honest appraisal of where we stand before Him and allow the Spirit of God to reveal that to us. We need to be able to pray for the gift of discernment to know what's going on, to be able to see, to be able to see ourself, see the things that need to change, see the things we need to be able to go to spiritual direction and be honest and be accountable with somebody. I meet with Bishop Sam Jacobs and we're only able to get together maybe once a year, but we talk on the phone and we share and we Skype some time and I know that that's important for me. And during Lent I just got really busy and I didn't talk to him at all during Lent and by the grace of God I had to send an email and there's something else. I don't know how well you know Bishop Sam, but he is very short on words. I'll send an email that's like five pages long and you'll write back and you'll say yes. So he wrote me and it was another topic that we were dealing about and he said, isn't it time that we meet? Yes, Bishop. It is time that we meet. That we're able to share our life with somebody that we can be radically honest. There's no way that we can have a self-appraisal brother unless we've got other sets of eyes being able to look because I know how biased I am and sometimes I'm much too critical on myself and other times I'm not hard enough. That's why I continue to pray that the Spirit does that and continue to pray that I have discernment but also pray that the Lord sends people into my life, not just a spiritual director but brothers. One of my brothers, Father Danny, Danny and I get together every couple of weeks and maybe it's only for 10 or 15 minutes and we say basically, how are you? Sometimes it's pretty good, sometimes it's pretty crappy. Sorry. We need that. We need relationships, brothers. And again, I think one of the tendencies we have is that we try to hide. We don't want to be seen partly because we don't like what we see and we certainly don't want anyone else to see it but probably we don't know. If I was to ask you to turn to somebody next to you and say, okay, for about two or three minutes explain to them what God is doing in your life. How often do we, if we're honest, we say, I don't know. I'll say something because but do we really know and I think it's imperative that we do know. Amen, brothers? So we ask ourselves, as we're doing this evaluation with renovation, what's good, what's bad, what do we keep, what do we need to get rid of? Where are we stuck? Where are we stagnant? Where are we just limping along? And that's not to say that there aren't occasions in our life where we feel that and we just have experiences, it's what I call seasons. I mean, there are seasons in our life that we just, we're kind of just getting along and we're just kind of limping along and that's where discernment is necessary. Is it just this season that I'm going through, a season of dryness, a season of difficulty or is there something else that's going on? And we need to be able to answer that question. I mean, I understand fully the seasons. I may be 25 years ago at that. We should always be on fire and always have this radical zeal. I understand now over walking this walk a while that there are times of dryness in our spiritual life. But that I can identify that that the time of dryness is a grace time. It's not just because I haven't prayed. I always got a kick when I was working here at the university. This 18-year-old would come up to me and say, Father, I'm going through the dark night of the soul. Which is possible as an 18-year-old. I'm wrong. I believe that that is in fact possible. I said, okay, well, let's talk about your prayer. He goes, well, I'm not really praying. But you're pretty sure you're going through the dark night. Yeah, because it's really hard for me to pray. Well, welcome to the world of being a disciple of Jesus. But we have to be able to identify that. Through grace and through the presence of the Spirit of God and through spiritual direction and brotherhood and accountability that I can say, okay, I think this is why I'm going through a stagnant time or a dryness, that I think it's a season. I'm doing all the things quote-unquote that I think I'm supposed to do. Okay, then this is a season. And spring will come. I shared that I went to a confession recently and the priest said to me, the first thing he said after my confession was today's a new day. That brought life to my soul. Today's a new day. And for some of us brothers, we're going through a season. It's a season of dryness. And it's a season of despair, not despair, a total despair, but it's a season of difficulty and struggle. But it's just that. But how do we know? Discernment. Prayerful reflection. Spiritual direction. So that we can say, okay, I don't have to tear this down. It's not something that has to be tore down and rebuilt. It's a season that I'm going through. Amen. Those who are struggling, those who find themselves in great difficulty and you're able to discern that something's not right, I think we have to ask ourselves, are we bored? Having been able to do spiritual direction with more and more priests over the last many years, I think if they're honest, oftentimes they're bored. There's no sense of... It's not that they're not busy. There's a difference. One can be very busy and still be bored. But there's not a sense of life that they're doing. Their ministry has become busyness and their ministry has become motion and their ministry has become tasks and that it's not life giving. And because of that, they're bored. We have to ask ourselves what's going on. I think some are, they're hurt and they're unappreciated. I think I've been ordained 20 years now and I think I can begin to think back on ordination in 20 years of ministry. I remember I had been ordained for maybe a year and Father Mike Scanlon and I got invited to Peoria to do some preaching there. It was funny, it was on Halloween. We went out to dinner for Halloween one night and we were both in habit and we walked into this restaurant and they go, it was great. They go, that is so cool. And as soon as she said it, she realized those aren't costumes are. They said, no, they're actually not. You would have got a prize. It's like, what's the prize? They had invited, again, Father Mike and myself to give these, it was a day of retreat for priests and they had invited us to give these two talks. The first one was on love and evangelization and the second one was on persevering through the struggles of priesthood, of which that was the one I was asked to give a talk on. I've been ordained for a year, alright. There were no struggles. There were no difficulties. There was no persevering, alright. It was just, everything was great. So I said, Father Mike, how about you give that one? He goes, alright, that's probably a good idea. Probably, huh? But now that I've been ordained 20 years, I feel I can look back. And I think one of the struggles we have, brothers, is we work our butts off often times with really relatively no appreciation. Now I fully understand, we do not do this just to be appreciated. This is part of the reason why prayer is so important is that we go before the Lord and we let the Lord minister to us but every now and then it would be nice, huh? And because of this we get hurt and we get frustrated and we get angry and we get bitter and that must be renewed and we have got to be able to recognize that and see that and say, okay Lord by the Spirit of God convicted of this and say, this isn't how I want to be help me how are we going to deal with it? How are we going to be renovated? How are we going to be made new? For some, we're stuck in sin and we have to be able to identify that and look at that. What is that? And the sin often times is selfishness it's laziness it's love of comfort sorry Frank I had to say it again it's pride it's an independent spirit it says nobody is going to tell me what to do it's a rebellious spirit that says it's going to be my way I have to ask the Lord what is it that you want to convict me and so that I don't get stuck in this stuck in this sin and stuck in these habits of doing the same thing and the sin which surrounds itself with wasting too much time watching TV just in honor of Father Francis Martin we should just throw it out the window everybody Father Francis Martin told us every year we should throw our TVs out the window and our computers if we're honest I don't have a TV in my room no I do not but I've got a computer but I don't have a TV in my room those of you who do should get rid of them I think one of the areas that the Lord wants to move in our life and it goes to the point of being bored and to be stuck and to be stagnant and is that there is no vision Proverbs 28 19 says a people without vision will perish without vision there is no hope I remember one of our friars he spoke and he said we can live I don't know 30 days without food 20 days without water 3 days without a beer and he said whatever it is but he says we cannot live a moment without hope we cannot live a moment without hope but brothers I believe because for lots of reasons and all the some of what are the ones that I've mentioned and being beaten down but I believe that largely we have no vision not only and I'm not talking about a parish I'm talking about me people without a vision perish the scripture says what is the vision that the Lord is giving you in your life not even not your parent you in your life the vision that gives you life the vision I mean if you were to write on a piece of paper very small piece of paper the Lord the vision the Lord is giving me is what and I think it's fundamentally true with people without a vision perish how do we get to this place we're all well meaning reflecting I don't know if it's true or not so don't tell me if it's not because it's a great story Vincenzo Bardi did one I don't know couple of Super Bowls and several years after that the Packers were not very good anymore somebody asked him how did this happen Vincenzo Bardi how did this happen and his reference was death by inches and by that he made we said we made lots of small decisions that in and of themselves did not seem like a big deal in and of themselves but over time in accumulation we made a big deal and that's why the team is no longer good that's true in my life individual this isn't that big a deal I mean this is not objective this is not that big of a deal and neither is this and this isn't either and we wake up and we ask ourselves how did I get here I remember I had an opportunity to go to Kenya and I think the Lord brought me to Kenya just to hear this preach this Bishop preach and the Bishop was preaching about prayer and he said that the Lord gives us gifts and I know he was speaking about gifts and he said the Lord gives us gifts and he just was preaching about gifts and then he said and the Lord will take that gift away if we don't use it and as soon as he said the word penetrated my heart and I began to weep because I knew that the Lord was speaking to me through him and that was the gift of prayer that I think I've prayed every day of my life I don't think there's every day that I remember that I did not pray I remember as a high schooler coming home from a party drunk kneeling next to my bed praying as the room is spinning and the spirit is moving and yet as a newly ordained priest my prayer had become very functional I would get it in because there were so many other things to do and places to be and exciting things to experience that my prayer had become a function and it ceased to be a relationship and I asked myself how did this happen well it happened in lots of little things well you know I'm just going to cut off a few minutes here and I can do it later or here's what I'm going to do I usually do my holy hour but I'm just going to do my office now and I'll do this later individually one day didn't make a big deal over a matter of weeks death by inches how did I get here sometimes as I mentioned it's a season in life that needs to be transformed ensuring the other is again taking a look at how do we renovate and how do we rebuild what caused the problem that we're in all the things that I mentioned but other is what I call natural disasters I mean what caused the flood that they had to renovate and rebuild these homes a natural disaster but in our own experience it's disasters it's death it's his father just passed away and he said it's so strange not having my dad I mean this causes movement in our heart and in our spiritual life and we need to be able to say where is this coming from why is it that I'm not able to pray why is it that I'm struggling with these things why do I feel like there's no hope no passion no vision in my life Spirit of God penetrate my heart and show yourself to me because I need to be renewed and brothers that will reiterate if we hear that and we say well okay not I, I don't need to be renewed that's not it I don't personally think that's of the Lord I think this renewal is constant for each one of us amen so we identify in this discernment process of what do we need to get rid of so as to be able to rebuild as to be able to renew but the Spirit not only convicts us of what is bad it also convicts us and convicts us of what is good so we look at ourselves and we see some things that are quite good in every one of us that's why we don't need a total rebuild the scripture reminds us that we are loved by God amen that we are the Amago Dei Gregory the Great said that if we were able to see each other the way God sees us we would be tempted to bow down and worship to bow down before you because the spirit of God and the glory of God dwells in you so in the worst days that we have we can still stand and be front of a mirror and we can say I am the Amago Dei amen so as bad as we think we are as tough as times are that never change because we are fundamentally created in God's image and likeness and we build on that and that will never change amen it doesn't matter how bad we are how many sins we've committed how many times we've done whatever we are the Amago Dei the image of God amen and that is what we build on is that I reflect the image and likeness of God amen and that's a pretty good foundation and that the spirit of God dwells within me and that the love of God dwells within me those are pretty good foundations as Frank mentioned last night that the love that I have may not at time may not ever be perfect but in moments of grace I want to love and I claim that and I pray for that and that's not a bad foundation amen we have prayer as imperfect as it may be pretty good foundation we have the sacraments Eucharist not bad sacrament of reconciliation quite the fan all of these great things so it's not like we need this total rebuild the word of God all of these things are within us but we go back to the opening text that I read from the scriptures not by might these are all great things and these are all materials but it's not enough and not by power it's not just me willing it it's not me just putting my heels together and wishing three times like Dorothy and something magically is going to happen but renewal has to be more than that it has to be as the prophet said the spirit of God within us so how do we cooperate with that spirit one is that we recognize that we are we do have strength that it's not that I have no power within myself because I do have power we do have power the Lord has graced us and this is a part of it God has given me reason and he's given me understanding and he's given me desires and talents and all of those kinds of things and God can use that sometimes it's like we just stand and say don't ask me to do anything just renew me some of you know Father Sam T.C. Father Sam was always at this youth conference for years and years and years I love Father Sam Father Sam chose the Franciscans over the Benedictines we spend years and years young people decades discerning what does God want me to do so what did Father Sam T.C. do felt like he was called to be a priest wasn't sure if he was called to be a Dominican but he did over in that area of Pennsylvania so what did he do Father Sam took out a map, took out a ruler figured out which one was closer Franciscans so he became a friar he always told people I became a friar by a quarter of an inch they said what do you mean it's like they were a quarter of an inch closer to La Trobe so I became a friar that's how Fr. Sam T.C. discerned he was a great priest for a long time amen Sam smoked for a number of years and he really wanted to quit the Lord he said Lord give me the grace to quit smoking and I'll quit and the Lord said to him Sam quit smoking and I'll give you the grace we have power within us because of that's not all it takes but to say that okay God just do something as if it takes no sense of cooperation or no sense of my own strength that simply isn't the case I was struck by bishops sharing on Monday night excuse me Tuesday night when he talked about his Lent and he said he did all of those difficult things in Lent and he slept on a hard board and he in the floor and all of these kinds of things and he woke up on Easter morning and it was the worst Easter morning ever because there was nothing else he could do so it's not just by our strength I mean just that resonated with myself it's like Lord I try to do and I try to do and I try to do and I use the strength that you've given me it's not enough so we use other things we use the power of the world I mean the world has power that's not totally corrupt it's pretty much corrupt but not totally corrupt that there are things available that can help us to organize and to administrate better and these models for some therapy I mean all of these things in the world it's not totally corrupt it can help us as well but again with it says the Spirit of God it's not by might and it's not by power but it's by the Spirit of God and brothers we need to hear this that if I am going to be renewed that it's the Spirit of God and it seems that we come to understand that all of these things that I mentioned that are good, the Imago Dei all of the sacraments, all of that's good but it's not enough I mean it seems odd that we who are most of us my guess is they're going to mass the sacrament every day which is a great grace and a great blessing and perhaps going to confession John gave the talk on Monday night about the sacrament of reconciliation which is a great power but I suggest that it's not just that there's a Domenic in Aquinas is his name alright so Aquinas would even say that it wasn't enough Aquinas would say how is it possible that we could be receiving the Eucharist and we could be receiving the sacrament of reconciliation and we could be baptism and confirmation and we could still live a life that is stuck in sin and mired and struggle and difficulty how is that possible and Aquinas would say that we need a second sending a new sending of the Holy Spirit we cannot do this by ourselves even the great graces that we have in the sacraments it needs a renewal of the Holy Spirit that brings that alive Amen as Ralph said this morning it's our job but do we walk away from every time we celebrate the Mass every time we participate in Mass do we walk away changed renewed transformed rebuilt and I suggest that the only way that that can happen is through the power of the Holy Spirit I mean that's the main reason I did the wild goose because I've been traveling around for many years now and I see a population of people who are going to the sacraments and they're missing out they're going to the sacraments and they're walking out no different they're going to the sacraments and not recognizing the power they're getting in line on Monday and they're going to be there again next Monday with no radical change in their life yes that there's a freedom in their soul but the concrete experience that they're having isn't radically changing them they we need a renewal in the Holy Spirit and this is key it's not by my strength so we go before the Lord Brothers and we admit that we need renewal but unlike that when we gather together and we if we're going to build a new building I remember when they for the library here in this building they have this big ceremony where you you take these shovels that are in gold and you have this grand opening and the groundbreaking and all these kinds of things you have these these events that mark something new a new building a new ordained something new huh to quote the Dominican again Aquinas I don't say that with contempt I really like Aquinas just don't understand 90% of what he said the day the day we're doing ordained there's something new but Aquinas says is that when we experience this Holy Spirit this second sending this awakening this renewal he said that there are two things that come about in habitation but the other is innovation something new something new happens in us a new love of the scriptures a new love of prayer a new desire to have adoration that when we experience the Holy Spirit there's this renewal that takes place in us and we need to have things that mark that again when we create something new a new building or something like that we have events that mark that but as death happens slowly we need to make a decision and a choice that I'm going to be different from this moment forward it's going to be different I remember when the bishop was preaching in Africa I went to my knees after that and I said Jesus I'm going to pray different because of this and I had this marker I remember when I turned 33 fasting has been important to me since I was a kid fasting with my mom on vigils and Easter and that kind of thing and I remember when I turned 33 I decided I was going to fast in a particular way for one year for my year the year of the Lord 33 and that's something I've done for the last 19 years now at the beginning of my birthday I go before the Lord and I say Lord what do you want me to fast for for this year and I spend a year fasting for that but there's these markers that we need that we look to these moments and we look to these events that we say okay my life changed something is changing in me here I remember coming to this field house and it was a baccalaureate mass and it was Cardinal Bevilacqua Philadelphia I believe and I was recently ordained and I was watching him celebrate mass and I was touched by the fact that after he received communion and he received from the cup so often times what my experience was and what I saw other people you go on and you do what you have to do so you receive communion and then you go but the cardinal he received the blessed sacrament he received communion and he waited it wasn't like he waited 5 minutes he waited for 10 or 15 seconds and he just received the Eucharist he prayed for a moment and then he went on and did the other I've not celebrated mass the same since I watched him since I experienced him do that it's like I don't have to be in such a hurry I don't have to just receive the Eucharist and go do something else but I can receive for a moment and I changed it was a simple moment of renewal but I can look at that and I can mark that and brothers I think we need things like that in our life that we mark it this is what God did here this is what God did there and so often times we don't take the time to be able to reflect and see what it is that the Lord wants to do you see I want brothers to live a life of renewal and a life of renewal is a life which is constantly changing and constantly new it makes me sick no sense of movement makes me sick I grew up in Colorado my father always taught us you don't drink water from an area of a stream that's stagnant because that's where the disease is you always get the water from where it's moving through because it's safer to drink that I want to be moving constantly I want to be renewed and rebuilt and transformed so that the person you see now is not the same person that you saw five years ago to say that God has not done something in my life since then I want to be put in a position where I absolutely have to trust in the Lord that it's not my own strength it's not my own might it's not my own power but it's the spirit of God operating in my life and that's what I don't want the Lord just simply to bless the plans that I give him bless what I'm doing Lord I rather want to do what the Lord blesses the Lord not just simply having him bless me I want to be put in a position that says Lord if you don't show up in big big trouble because the only way that this is going to work is if you come through I want to be David standing before Goliath and say if this stone doesn't doesn't bring him down I am in big trouble amen you know and the Lord invites us to that the story of the scriptures when the apostles wanted to stay on the shore and Jesus says you know come out and they come out into the sea and there's a big storm they would have never had the grace of being able to depend on the Lord had they never been in that storm they were in the middle of the storm and the Lord had to save them and rescue but if we never allow ourselves to be in a position where the Lord rescues us we don't get the thrill of what that's like I want the thrill of walking on water I want the thrill of being able to walk on water amen and people see that they see us walking on water and that inspires them have your parishioners seen you walk on water Father because you are going to be so embarrassed if it doesn't work I remember one time because I get to travel a bit and people are often picking me up and taking me places I've just had different events and experiences and I remember one time I was in Orlando and the lady was taking me to the airport and I said I want to live my life fully alive just radically alive and she goes oh I don't want to live like that at all I said are you serious because people will see me if I live like that and they'll shoot at me and they will and they will they will shoot at us I had one of my alumni at the university contacted me a couple of years ago and he said Father Dave do you ever look at Amazon the reviews of the books that you've written and I said no actually I haven't he said you need to okay I found myself going and reading these and one time I was with my younger brother and his family and we were reading these because they will shoot at you so this was one of the headlines of one of the reviews these were all about my book on the Camino the headline of this one says I wouldn't if I were you I was very disappointed in this book it was more of a the name of the book is 500 miles hiking the Camino with Jesus okay that's the name of the book I was very disappointed with this book it was more like a find Jesus book and less of a hiking the Camino it's filled with scriptures and talk of sin and giving your life to God it was that kind of book I found myself skipping pages to find sentences about the Camino so this was the headline of the next one ugly American becomes a priest and walks the Camino okay you know this is going to be a good review people will shoot at us okay so it says while the book has some interesting episodes here and there and some insights worth contemplating now and then it was far more missed opportunities and frustration so much of the author's own personal story is steeped in dismissive culture of provincialism the author had been a priest for 10 years before going on a pilgrimage but the writing of all those sermons did not help him develop in any way an engaging style of his own ironically his narrative style can be as pedestrian I would only recommend that the reader skip this book but also learn the author's name so as to avoid ever suffering through one of his masses this is fantastic this is great okay they will shoot at us amen so this was good unfortunately the book did not serve my needs nor am I certain what the audience was generated towards overall I would be so bold to classify this book as a reading memoir it's readable but offers nothing substantial forgive me father I would rather read St. Augustine Augustine Confessions Pavanka Kamino Kamino Pavanka Augustine I would read confessions as well alright this one was nice okay this was a nice little review the reviewer gave me one star and it was stated in her review of the book one star this book was very good very inspirational one star what she want me to do her laundry for her alright so so this was kind of funny so we were talking my brother and I were reading some of these laughing my niece was in the room we weren't really paying attention she was 11 years old and she was in the room listening to what was going on she began to get frustrated and she goes what do you mean she didn't know it was about Jesus the title of the book is 500 miles with Jesus so she's frustrated later in the night me and my brother were showing my sister in law these reviews my niece again maybe 10 or 11 years old had gone on and given her own review and she wrote this is the best book I've ever read I've read this book 10 times and then she says my uncle is a wonderful author it's like oh my god so it's going to so I said Rob you need you need to delete that huh so it's possible that not everybody's going to be inspired by us trying to walk on water it's possible in fact it's probable none of these people crucified me so to speak I mean why should we be surprised the world does not want us to be operating and living in the power of the spirit of god the world wants us to work on our own power on our own might on our own strength because ultimately will fail and that's not how we can live brothers that leads to frustration leads to to impotence it leads us to know life it's but by the spirit of god so we go before the lord and we ask lord lord what do you want to do in me to renew me to transform me to rebuild me to give me vision how do we do this Francis came to understand that the renewal was about himself and in that it began to transform people around him and it's the same with us that we go before the lord and we ask that his spirit awaken something in us a client was right that every time we receive the spirit of god something new comes from that but brothers we do this time and time again the reason I always have a little rose around my finger is I pray I don't know how many times a day I'm praying for the spirit and that's all I pray and I made this deal with the lord I said lord every time this bead goes through my fingers I'm just saying come holy spirit and I'll be in situations where I'm having a conversation with somebody or multitasking but this still goes through my finger and a prayer that lord I can't do this by myself and I've tried and I realize where it gets me and if I'm going to be able to renew the temple as we heard at the very description it invited them Joshua and Zerba Bella to do and it's inviting me to do and it's this temple first that needs to be renewed and it's not by strength and it's not by might and it's not by power but it's by the spirit of god amen