 Thank you so much Scott. It is such a joy to get to share with you and what a what a privilege to have heard that wonderful testimony of Leah's and you know God is writing a wonderful story in every one of our lives and I'm so grateful for her parting words of encouragement that each of our lives is so unique and God has given us that opportunity to speak the gospel. Part of what I think may have led to some of that brokenness she talked about was the fact that she was alone and this final message is that we don't run this race alone. We are surrounded by witnesses. From the beginning of Jesus' ministry he called together a band of brothers. They traveled together, they talked together, they listened to him teach and then they discussed it afterwards. I'm sure they laughed and cried together. And in Mark 6-7 Mark Hart had mentioned this passage, Jesus does this amazing thing. You know mid ministry he pairs them up, prays over them and sends them out to imitate him. It's wild. I mean they're sent out to heal, even to expel demons, to teach, to preach about the kingdom and in Matthew 10-16 he adds this warning, behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves so be wise as serpents and gentlest doves. Don't you wonder who paired up with Judas? I figure that. Now the disciples could have covered more ground if Jesus had sent them to 12 places, right? What if he had sent them out one by one instead of two by two? Even the whole plan after the resurrection. You know it was just starting with a small group but that's how God wanted to do it because we are not alone. We're to pair up, we're to be together with other brothers and sisters in proclaiming the kingdom. Following the Passover in which Jesus instituted the Eucharist as Scott mentioned last night commissioning them as priests, they head out to the Garden of Gethsemane and they are not prepared for what will happen. So much human fear comes into play. They can't stay awake because of of sorrow, heavy sorrow in the prayer. They flee from the soldiers and even Peter denies knowing the Lord and they regather in the upper room after Jesus' crucifixion. Again, bolting the door, there's so much fear until the resurrected Christ appears and then everything changes. Just before the Ascension, our Lord gives the Great Commission in Matthew 28, 18 to 20. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you and lo, I'm with you always to the close of the age. That's all you have to do. Go into the whole world, make disciples of all nations and I'm not going to be here except that he's going to send the Holy Spirit. So Jesus doesn't just send them out without his presence and his power. He will not physically be with them, but the Holy Spirit will. And this is what he promises us as you go forth from this place as a disciple to disciple others. He is sending you out with the Holy Spirit to be able to do this. Nine days later, the Holy Spirit descends upon the disciples in the upper room and Peter preaches powerfully to the people. Do you remember how many converts? 3,000. Good. You were really paying attention. Okay. 3,000 converts begin their Christian lives. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? I mean, 3,000 people are baptized and now they've got to be taught the faith. And so they devoted themselves to 41 and 42 says those who received his word were baptized and there that day were added 3,000 souls and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching fellowship to the breaking of the bread and prayer. Very, very important ways in which we need to grow in our faith. They were following Christ together. We do make an individual decision for the Lord to give our lives to the Lord, but we grow together. We're in this boat together as the early church grew missionary disciples went forth and Paul always has a companion. You know, he takes along Barnabas and then at a later time, he splits off. He goes with Silas. Barnabas goes with John Mark. Why? To support each other, to encourage each other, to pray for each other. Why was prayer then and now so important, interceding for each other? Why do we pray? It's not like we're gonna change God's mind, right? Well, first of all, we're commanded to pray. First Timothy two, one and five. First of all, then I had urged that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all men, for there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There's one mediator. Therefore in him, we also approach the throne of grace with our needs and others needs. His mediation allows our mediation to be possible. Second, we're not telling God something he doesn't already know. We don't pray to change God's mind or to alter the future. But we do pray so that we give voice to our concerns. We express our trust in our heavenly father. In other words, here's the situation. Here's the person in dire need. I'm not sure what to do, but I know you are trustworthy and I bring this to you. And that includes opening our minds to him because maybe we're the ones who have to have a change, not to change God, but to know we can be changed in that encounter with him in prayer. Third, we imitate Jesus. Jesus prayed. Hebrews seven 25. Consequently, he's able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them. That's what Jesus is doing right now. He is living to intercede on our behalf. And so what a privilege to actually imitate him as we pray for each other. We accompany our brothers and sisters in Christ in their joys with thanksgiving in their sorrows and suffering through intercessory prayer. And finally, fourth, we depend on the Holy Spirit to help us. Romans eight 26 and 27 says this. Likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness for we don't know how to pray as we ought, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with size too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Have you had those moments in prayer where you cannot even formulate a prayer where your tears are the only thing your heart can utter, but you can know that the Holy Spirit takes that groan of your spirit and knows how to pray according to the will of God and intercedes for you or for your loved ones on your behalf. Over and over in Paul's letters, he writes how he prays for believers with thanksgiving for them. We don't just come to God and plead for things. We also thank him. We notice. I don't know if any of you have ever kept a prayer journal. I would really encourage you to to write down a date that you begin to pray for something and then put that petition and then take time to note how God answers that prayer. Of course, sometimes the answer is no, and sometimes it's not yet, and sometimes it's yes. St. Paul writes this in 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 to 18. Rejoice always. Pray constantly. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. There's never a time that we may not be in dialogue with our Lord talking to him praying. Why would we do this? Why do we pray for each other because we don't run this race alone? Ever since I can remember, I have loved to pray for others. And even in junior high and high school, which was a secular school, if someone had a crisis in their life, for some reason they knew I was a person they could come up to and say, Would you pray for me? And they would explain their circumstance. When I said the Apostles Creed growing up, I thought communion of saints meant prayer for each other, like brothers and sisters I can see. And I had no idea that it might involve contact with Christians who've gone on to heaven. I mean, I was aware that the Old Testament clearly condemned talking to dead people, asking for things that, you know, predictions about the future. If you remember, Saul goes to the witch and has her divinate whether or divine whether or not he's going to win a particular battle. And it is absolutely forbidden to do that. I was told that in heaven, people are so caught up with the Lord, they wouldn't even notice each other, let alone notice anybody who's on earth. I mean, my mother has said quite frankly, and they have been married almost 62 years. They have a deep love for each other in Christ. And she says, Honey, I don't think I'll recognize Dad. It won't matter because Jesus is all that matters. You know, it's called a marriage supper of the Lamb. I never went to a wedding where the groom said, all eyes on me. The bride doesn't matter. The guests, you know, it's, it's a, it's sad. I understand why she says it because she, she comes from an Appalachian culture that when people died, the emphasis was all on, well now Aunt Billy's going to now be with Uncle John forever. And, and they kind of missed part of focusing on Jesus. But I think, I think it's skewed the other way now. Well, one day after Scott was cast, like, and I was not, was having a difficult day. And a friend who had converted the same night Scott did, very eager to move me in that direction. He called out of the blue and he said, Kimberly, how you doing? How's your day? And I said, it's not going very well. I have three little kids and it, it's a very hard day. And he said, well, have you asked Mary to pray for you? And I said, I don't talk to dead people. Let me ask you a question. How many children do you think he, she had? Of course he said, I believe she only had one, Jesus. And did her son struggle with sin? Of course not. He was perfect. And do you think she struggled with sin? No, I believe she was sinless. I already knew the answers to those questions. And I said, so I am a person who struggles with sin. And I've got not one, but three little children who struggle with sin. And I think about Mary, Joseph and Jesus sitting around the table and something goes wrong. It'd have to be Joe. I said, if I talked to anybody, it would be Joseph, it wouldn't be Mary. At least that's what I thought until January 22nd, 1989. I didn't think that I was pregnant, but I woke up with this feeling of someone sharpening a pencil into my side, unrelenting. I called my sister was a nurse and she said, you know, I really think you need to get to the hospital and be checked out. I went to the hospital and they said, well, we'll do a pregnancy test. I said, oh, I couldn't be pregnant. I know where I am in my cycle. And they said, we'll run a test anyway. And they came out and they said, you are pregnant. I'm pregnant. And I don't know why, but they sent me home. Didn't run any more tests. Three days later, Scott was up buying on a book buying thing with a good friend and I knew something was radically wrong. I called a friend and said, I need you to bring a daughter to drop, you know, to be at the house. And I've got to have you take me to the hospital right now. I'm starting to get numb in my hands and my feet. I'm going to have to crawl to the door. I don't even know if I can get into your car. And I did get into the car, but by the time we got to the hospital, I couldn't physically even get myself out of the car. They did a cotosynthesis, which is I've had the seven sections, C sections, but it is the singular most painful procedure I've ever had in my life. It's one of those silent screen ones where they said this is going to pinch and they began to pull. The needle was about, well, the needle may have only been that long, but there was a tube and they began to pull this fluid out to see if I was hemorrhaging internally and it was filled with blood. And they said, you know, we don't know when you began to hemorrhage, but we've got to get you into surgery. I think you've got a little bit of a double pregnancy. And I said, I had done a lot of pro-life talks, and it's not the least of which knowing the date that this was. And I said, I have to have a technician come and check my blood to see if my HCG levels are coming down. And the doctor got right in my face and he said, you have been hemorrhaging for three days. You may be dead in an hour and a half. We don't have a technician. I have to do surgery. I'm like, okay. So we went into surgery and for some reason I'd already had C-sections in that bikini cut as if you'd ever wear a bikini after that. Anyway, but he wanted to get in immediately and get a view of everything. And so he did a C-section up and down and side to side and and did find the sac in the tube. When I came to, he let me know how extensive it was. And he said, I couldn't tell whether or not the baby was alive, but I baptized the sac in case the baby was alive. And he said, and then I removed the sac. And of course, we had never discussed this, Scott, as Catholics having any different view. And so we didn't know we really should have had the tube removed and not just the sac. But his thought, the doctor's thought was I had hemorrhaged so long, probably there was no chance the baby was alive. Anyway, so I am coming through, you know, full section surgery on the maternity floor, the heartbreak of losing a baby. And we've got three little kids at home that Scott needs to go be with. Scott say that as long as he possibly could, but then he had to go home and I was very alone. And I have to tell you this is why I think it's so crucial that we memorize scripture. Because you don't know when you will need to have a scripture there. And you're not going to have someone to look it up for you. And so thankfully, I had memorized Hebrews 12, one and two. And I'm going to read the whole thing to you. And then I want to take it apart a little bit. Hebrews 12 follows the great chapter of faith, the heroes and heroines of the Old Testament, who were steadfast. And then he begins in 12. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin, which clings so closely. And let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Those words began to tumble around in my mind. Since we are surrounded, you mean right here, Lord? You mean right now, Lord, as I'm laying in this hospital bed feeling gutted like a dead deer, feeling tremendous physical pain, but even more the emotional pain alone. This room's full. I mean, I knew Jesus was there. I never doubted whether or not Jesus was with me. But right now, present tense, not just leading before me as an example, not just pushing me from behind, but present. Witnesses, martyrs, people who with no anesthesia had undergone horrific things for Christ. People who didn't just have a husband go home to care for children, but maybe their husband had been murdered for Christ. To do what they witnessed, faithfulness in tough times, they were there to encourage me to do the same. I love the image because it's almost like a stadium of the Olympics, where everybody in the stands has already meddled in the race that you and I are in the middle of, and they're not standing there in criticism, you know, saying, I can't believe she said that. I can't believe she did that. But instead, they are cheering us on. They were cheering me on at that moment. How would they even know how to pray? But God was allowing them to pray to be there. This wasn't anything like contacting the dead to tell me the future. They were with me. And then we get this admonition, let us lay aside every weight and sin. It's a choice. It's a choice to cling to the sins that cling to us, or to allow the sufferings and the sorrows that are such burdens, to allow those to just linger. But instead, we're to cast them aside, we're to lay them aside, the kinds of things that make it so hard to run that race. I thought about Father McConey's talk about sin and confession, helping us to unload. I didn't think about that at the time I was laying in the bed, but it did make sense later. And then let us run with perseverance. Now at the moment, I wasn't even getting out of bed. There's nothing quite like that first stepping out of bed and walking to the bathroom where you think you literally are going to split open and everything's going to tumble out. And it's just as bad every time. But it isn't a walk. It isn't a beander. It isn't a saunter. It's a run. And we're to run with perseverance. Not start strong and peter out, but run with determination. The race set before us. This is not our own choosing. I'm sure if you look back on your life, there are all kinds of twists and turns that you didn't plan. And yet it's the race set out before you. Because God knew what he needed to do in our hearts in our lives to conform us to his son. One of the images that I get is Father Gregory Plow, who spoke about the priestly discernment program. He runs ultra marathons. Those are those are the 30 to 100 mile races that have to be completed in 24 hours. What is what is something like that require? Well, first of all, you got to have a training plan. This is part of why you're here. Part of why you've been gathering up books and materials and copies of the talks. You're gearing up. You're getting together your training plan, then essential gear talks like how to get how to speak the truth in love and how to understand Islam better so that we can speak to Muslim neighbors and friends. They don't ever recommend that you go alone. You need somebody who's encouraging you along the way. You've got to figure out your life. You've got to have the fuel like drinking from the fourth cup or the third cup. The third cup. Fourth cup is comes it comes at death. To realize a setback is just a stage for a comeback. Not a great thought. And then you keep your eyes on the prize. And of course, the verse goes on saying looking to Jesus. The pioneer and perfect of our faith made perfect Hebrews through what he suffered. As we go through these times of suffering, God is refining us through obedience. Who for the joy set before him, what joy, the joy of our salvation, the joy of bringing his family home, he endured the cross despising the shame. We're not searching for ways to to suffer. It will come. It will come. But he endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the father, the throne of God. Mission accomplished. How did Jesus run his race? He accepted his suffering. He kept his eyes on the prize. How do we run this race? Keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus like at the holy hour last night. We have to allow suffering to have its full effect. Now the world says suffering is to be avoided at all costs. Actually, what needs to be avoided at all costs? Sin. Sin, not suffering, sin. Okay, the devil tempts us to think that if we're people of faith, we shouldn't suffer. Doesn't God love us? Doesn't God care about us? If God's a loving God, how would he allow any suffering in our lives? Suffering can be a proof of our lack of faith. Well, don't listen to the evil one. He has no clue. He's a liar. Listen to Jesus. And third, our flesh hopes we don't have to suffer. I mean, Jesus did after all. Isn't that enough? And certainly there are Protestant circles in which that is their teaching of the health and wealth gospel. Jesus suffered so I don't have to know Jesus suffering shows us the way how to be conformed to him. And you know, we experienced suffering in very different ways. When we were in college, the men were applying for young life. And one of the questions was, what is the worst suffering you've ever experienced? One young man wrote down the death of my father. One man wrote down missing valedictorian by point 001. Now, that almost seems ludicrous, except at that point in his life, that was the worst thing he had ever suffered. Okay, sometimes, if you're with children, you know, I almost laugh, I probably do with the grandchildren because now I've lived through it so much. But you know, a little thing happens. A toy breaks, you know, and they just sob like it's the end of the world. And, you know, you just have to enter into their little angst and, you know, or how many one year olds and my little John is this way, you know, I can be holding him and mommy's three feet away and we're okay. And mommy just walks around the corner and he collapses. It's just, you know, he weeps as if she's gone forever. But to them, the suffering is real. Okay, even though it doesn't compare with what it will be when they're older. One of my little granddaughters bounded down the stairs, Eliza, at age four, and she announced to her mother, today I want to be a saint. And her mother said, okay, that's great, Eliza. And she said, so don't ask me to do anything I don't want to do. Okay. Oh, I think I tell God that every day. We do. We do tell him that, don't we? Whether small or great, Jesus suffering transforms our suffering into something meaningful. Romans five, two to five says this, true him, we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope doesn't disappoint us. Because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us. We've got access to this grace in which we stand, even in those moments where we feel like we can't get up the floor, we can't get off our knees. And yet we do have grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of sharing the glory of God. How can St. Paul say we rejoice in our sufferings? Because sufferings are part of the human and yes, even the Christian condition. In fact, if you're not suffering at the moment, it's a lull. Need to say it, but that's the truth. What is our attitude to be one of dread embracing ourselves or preparing thinking that this is an ultramarathon? Okay, now how do I how do I nurse the injury back to health so that I can keep running the race? How can I see the setback as a way to move forward? The word rejoice, kauchastai, is to triumph, to glory, to exalt. There's an exuberance. God's at work. Don't buy into the discouragement, because God's at work, and he's going to produce that endurance, and he's going to produce that character, and he's going to produce that hope. And the sufferings flip, flip us in the Greek is pressure. It's resisting the temptation to quit in the midst of tribulation and how do we do this in the midst of suffering? Well, one of the ways is in giving God thanks. Now, when I became a Catholic, Mary was one of the tougher things for me to get my heart around my brain around initially, and then my heart around. And when people would refer to Mary as Our Lady of Sorrows, I was like, you know, it's just kind of like this Catholic thing of being so doom and gloom. I mean, she got to bear the Son of God. She got 30 years with him. I mean, with a child that, you know, probably was doing little healing miracles here and there. Who knows? I mean, just how wonderful that life must have been. And so do we really have to use a name like Our Lady of Sorrows to describe her? Well, God in his infinite wisdom is always showing me truths at a deeper level. We had found out on a Friday that we were expecting and we shared the wonderful news with our children. We were all so excited and we went to noon mass at the university and, you know, just couldn't hardly contain the joy. We had four living children at the time, Michael, Gabriel, Hannah, Jeremiah, and this was the next baby. And so we came home and then Scott and I went to Minneapolis and spoke for the weekend. And I just had a sense that things were not right when we came back. And sure enough, when we landed, I had started to bleed. And by the next day, we had to gather our children and share that we had miscarried the baby. And like on Friday, we went to mass. Same chapel right here on campus. And it was amazing how many of the verses were talking about praise. Praise you for this, praise you for that. In fact, I don't know if you've ever thought about it, but I think the phrase was used a sacrifice of praise and I'm sitting there thinking, you know, yeah, it's a sacrifice to praise you. And, and I, in my heart, I just said, I choose to praise you, I will praise you. And this was our third miscarriage. I said, but I will always have a sorrow in my heart for these three little ones I am not getting to have and to hold. And it was like he shot it right back to me and said, and how could my mother not be our Lady of sorrows when she held the broken body that she gave me? I was like, okay, I get it. I'm slow. We grieve, but we don't grieve as people without hope, right? We have to trust the Lord and have a healthy mistrust of our own perception of things. We need an eternal perspective looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith to be able to endure and to go further than we think we can go. And I think that's part of running a marathon, too, is pushing through. We think we have limits, but God knows what our actual limits are. Philippians one, two to four, St. Paul writes this, counted all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. What is the joy that is being set before us? What could possibly be worth the suffering becoming perfect and complete? In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus never abandoned hope. He knew why he faced suffering and death to restore us to the Father. How did Mary endure her sufferings to the cross? You know, the Catechism affirms she never lost the virtue of joy, the entire Via Dolorosa. We have to forgive people that do things to us. She had to forgive as they were torturing and killing her son. And she consented, she consented to this total gift of self that Jesus was laying down, offering herself along with him. Colossians 124 is a verse actually very familiar to Catholics, although I don't know if Catholics really know it's a verse of Scripture. I think for some it's when we talk about offering up our sufferings that some of my friends say that when they were children it was sort of the Catholic way of saying shut up. I don't want to hear your complaints, offer it up. Whereas my one child said suffer it up. But Paul says this amazing thing. I remember the first time Scott quoted it to me and I thought, I don't think that's in my Bible. And some reason I thought the Catholic insights he kept coming up with were in his Catholic Bible and not mine. But all right, let's see where Colossians is. Colossians 124, now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. And in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body that is the church. Are you saying Jesus suffering was insufficient? No, I'm saying Jesus so allows us to truly be his body that as we unite our sufferings to him in some incredible mystical way it redounds to the well-being of the whole church. He permits us to participate as we unite from the smallest things to the biggest. Scott has quoted numerous times to me that Fulton Sheen would pass by hospitals and say there is so much wasted suffering here, so much suffering that could be offered in union with the cross. I remember one time Joe, he was six years old and he was so sick with the flu and I said is there anything you can think of that you could offer this suffering for? Without another word he just bowed his head and he prayed that someone somewhere who was thinking about an abortion wouldn't do it. John 16 32 and 33 says in the world you have tribulation but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world and there's some South Korean Christians who just sorry North Korean Christians who described the impact of the communists who were trying to beaten them down pressuring them to abandon their faith and they said quote we are like nails the harder you hit us the deeper you drive us. Beautiful image shortly after that third miscarriage we had an opportunity to go to the Holy Land in 1993 and I took with me the weight of that miscarriage it was it was the fact that it was a miscarriage it was also the fact that it was our third miscarriage and just that disheartening sense of am I ever going to conceive again and what's wrong with me and all of that burden and I kept praying throughout the Holy Land you know asking God to just lift it it was such a weight it was one of those weights that clings so closely. I don't know if you've had the opportunity to go to the Church of All Nations which is in the Garden of Gethsemane but I love how dark it is they use alabaster on the windows so it's very it's very dark inside all the time there's the rock in which on which we believe Jesus sweat blood and there's a powerful image made out of iron of nails sorry thorns that are like the crown of thorns all around it and there's just something so ominous because our Lord chose knowing what he was about to face he did this for me and so I went in and I just said God I don't want to leave this church till you meet me here help me with this suffering and what he brought to my heart was Isaiah 53 you know when we think of the cross we think of him gathering up our sins but Isaiah 53 says he was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Emmanuel God with us he is with us in these intense moments of suffering he was with me in that miscarriage that was part of the sorrow he bore and I'm telling you even though there was sadness in my heart when I walked out of that church the burden of it was lifted the next time we were there well I found out when I got home I was already pregnant with Joe which I didn't know the next time I went back to Israel I was six months pregnant with David in fact as a little aside I've been where Mary and Elizabeth met and in reflection I was as pregnant as Mary the first time I went to Israel and as pregnant as Elizabeth the second time and I know how happy Elizabeth was when Mary showed up because i'm cream is a really long winding road and Mary would go to market and I only I was glad I only had to do that that trip one time pregnant with David anyway that's a total aside so when we were getting ready to go to the Garden of Gethsemane I recounted to Scott how meaningful that had been to me and I said I I know that this is a very very meaningful place and there's a particular woman on my heart and I really I'm I'm going to really pray for her and we would this time we were going to have mass in the church well what the story was 10 sorry it was now 20 years ago after defending the faith I met a woman she had come to defending the faith with a dear friend and what was shared with me was a sorrow I had never heard of before in fact later she sent me the newspaper article and I and I read it she was estranged from her husband and he had broken into their home one night brought their children into a room and bear barricaded the door and then she woke to their screams because he was killing them with a baseball bat and then he set the room on fire and shot himself so by the time the firemen and the police officers got there there wasn't even a body for her to hold now I don't have a clue how you breathe after a suffering like that and there was a group of nuns who just took her in and she lived with him for quite a while and then she began to create stained glass art of Christ with three little children around them she would pray in adoration and then she would work on her artwork and God slowly brought healing to her and as we headed to the garden of Gethsemane that day and she was just on my heart that's the worst suffering I've ever heard of we're getting ready for mass I'm kneeling in prayer and I get this little tap on my shoulder I turn around and it was that woman now she was not on our pilgrimage but she'd gotten word the Franciscan university was having a mass at this church and she said you may not remember me and I said remember you I prayed for you on the way to mass today we must bear the sorrows and sufferings of the body of Christ this is a privilege to imitate our Lord to do what the Holy Spirit does to walk alongside each other to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ hope doesn't disappoint us because God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit there are times we beg God for help and he says no or not yet Paul had that three times we don't know what the thorn of the flesh was three times he begged God to take it away but do you know what Jesus word was to him and it's an important word we need to hear 2nd Corinthians 12 9 and 10 but he said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in your weakness I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest on me his grace is sufficient even when we don't know the answer to that dilemma even though we don't know to how to fix that broken relationship even if we don't know how to have our bodies respond so that we can conceive or so that we can bear a child we conceive and the question isn't am I strong enough to go home and share all of this am I strong enough to do the things that I've been challenged to do the question is are you weak enough are you weak enough to admit you cannot do it because then then his grace can work powerfully in you and in me his grace is sufficient his power is made perfect in our weakness now the cloud of witness that's that surround us include our Blessed Mother when I was converting I had a friend who said you know Mary's your spiritual mother and I said I don't feel it so much and he said well what do you do with Revelation 17 12 and I said I don't know what that is he said go get your Bible because he was on the phone I'm okay I got my Bible and I'll read it sorry I think it's 1217 I think I gave you the wrong yeah 1217 sorry all right so there's there's this very dramatic war going on and the woman who has the the son is being attacked by the dragon and then the dragon is very angry with the woman according to verse 17 and he goes off to quote make war on the rest of her offspring on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus so do you bear testimony to Jesus do you want to keep the commandments of God that I can tell you for sure Mary is your spiritual mother she is your mother and we are at war as Scott says this world is not a playground it is a battle ground it is not possible to be casual Catholics we are part of the church militant because we are in the midst of a battlefield at the same time we recall that the battle is the Lord's so it's not to strike fear in our heart but it sure better make us aware it sure better wake us up we cannot afford to just keep hitting the snooze button spiritually the outcome is certain he has lost and our Lord has won but we live in this in-between time we're not there yet we're in this world for a purpose and we shouldn't be looking at other times and saying oh I wish that's when I lived because then it would be easier even even reflecting back I wish it was 50 years ago or 30 years ago this is our time this is the time in which God wants to make us saints and we make the stand and the success is not overcoming as much as it is being faithful and entrusting to God the outcome there is so much going on in our world that is so difficult we have to be aware of what's happening and some of you heard that in the workshops and the questions that were answered about marriage and all the gender confusion questions we heard the talk about Islam and there are committed Muslims who very much want to simply destroy us and how about the problems with atheism and how many are simply abandoning any belief in God whatsoever but we are not alone in this battle at one point in the fall I said to Scott and I'm not prone to getting discouraged but I said to Scott what kind of world are we giving our children and grandchildren I just I just shake my head I can't believe it and he he was so calm and he just said honey we've never given them the world we give them the faith and we give them heaven first John 5 4 and 5 says for whatever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that overcomes the world the faith who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God in Ephesians 6 12 to 18 Paul goes through our armor for spiritual warfare but do you know there are only two offensive weapons the first one is the scripture the sword of the Spirit and I hope you'll soak in it I hope you'll read it and meditate on it I hope you commit it to memory and review it I hope you take it deep into your heart because these are the very words of God in the words of men uniquely God breathed we know from 1st Timothy 3 inspired so we've got to have a I mean how can you do battle with a rusty sword or a sword that's still in the scabbard you know the unopened Bible no it's got to be sharp in fact my little nephews in a little Baptist church used to they would they would go back and forth going through their Bible memory verses and they called them sword drills thought that was cute Catholic kids need to do sword drills too okay we all but the other weapon is prayer it is prayer mental prayer the rosary Eucharistic adoration scripture and prayer and where do we always find both mass mass the primary place we do battle for against evil is not in city hall even though it's a place we've got to be there or on the picket lines or in the voting booths we have to engage our culture but the primary place we are going to fight evil is in the midst of the church's liturgy so let's gear up as we prepare for mass and then go forth remember you are in the middle of an ultramarathon you and I are in this for the long haul and we are not alone the saints and the angels our lord himself are cheering us on calling us on encouraging us therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely let us run the race with perseverance looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God God bless you brothers and sisters let's pray for each other okay