 I was a 20 year old kid, and I was with an organization called Nat. I think I actually mentioned that the other day, and it was fairly early in our time together in this, one of the people on our team was giving basically a testimony, just a witness of what the Lord had done in her life, and she shared how she just surrendered her life to the Lord. You know, it's actually really quite beautiful, quite poignant on this surrender of her life. And that was the big thing. She gave her life to the Lord. And then she spent the next probably three or four minutes talking about how that's not much of a gift. It's like, she would talk about how broken she was, and how messed up she was, and how she was sinful one time, and how she was in a relationship that wasn't good one time. She had just talked about, I'm giving you my life, but what I'm giving you is really kind of crap, but it's what you get, right? This is all I got. And she would say, this is all I have. And again, I was a 21-year-old kid, but there was a 20-year-old kid, and there was something about that that just didn't sound right. Something off about it. What I struggled with was her sense of, I know you wouldn't want this, I know it's not that great, but here's my heart. And I try to reconcile that with the first reading. And if you ever just kind of wondering what the Lord is doing in your life or who He is, I suggest we just spend time with the first reading. It says, Moses said to the people, you are a people sacred to the Lord. I asked, John Berksman about this. For one reason or another, just the word sacred, he said, John, anything different about this? And he looks and goes, this is amazing. So it's like, John's like, I'm afraid I got into something. I have no idea what I've got into. But he was saying that he's working on this piece and he's dealing with this rabbi who's written a lot on the scriptures. And he said, this rabbi's presumption is stating that nowhere in the Old Testament does the Lord say that the people are holy. He said, but that's exactly what he's saying. He said, you are sacred. You are holy, kadash, right? But I just found myself thinking about that word and maybe just allowing the spirit of Jesus to speak to us, that the Lord looks upon us and he says, and there's just something, I think, beautiful about the word sacred. We hear the word holy all the time in some ways. You're sacred. I mean, the Lord looks upon you. He looks upon this gal I was talking about earlier. He looks upon me and he says, you are sacred. I mean, there's something really anointed about that. I mean, we bow before things that are sacred. We are cautious around things that are sacred. We're devotional and very, if it's sacred, it's almost, that's what the Lord is saying is on this feast of the sacred heart that you, I am sacred. Seems to me he's speaking three things from us in the scriptures. And this is the first is that each one of us is sacred so that when we give our heart to the Lord, he actually delights in that, that he recognizes the beauty that we are. He recognizes that we are created as image and likeness. So he has set us apart. As we know, they understand the word of Kadesh, he set us apart. And I love that he goes on to say that it's not because you're so great and you're so wonderful and it's all these things, right? And he recognized that he says that, that it's no by no merits that you've done or I've done that we're sacred. We are sacred because of who he is. We are sacred because we share in his heart. We are sacred because we are in the Mago Dei. That's what makes us sacred. Amen. And it's given to us. It's placed upon us this sacredness. So on the feast of the sacred heart, we celebrate the reality and the fact that we two brothers are sacred. And he says, you are sacred and the Lord has chosen you. He says it twice. I think that's just a beautiful image. He says, the Lord has set his heart on you. I mean, that's just a fantastic image. We could just stop there, right? The Lord in a sacred heart which burns and in full of love and mercy. He has set his heart on us. That's just a great image, right? But then he gets, he said his second set his heart on you and he has chose you. Now, I've reflected a lot in written a lot and prayed a lot about this idea of being chosen. Again, the Lord stands towards us as chosen. There's not a before and after. He is constantly choosing us, right? He is choosing us. And again, it would beg the question, why? Right? But if we understand at the beginning that we're sacred, maybe there's something to that, right? That we are sacred and he has chosen us. I remember the morning I was ordained. I was up in the Holy Spirit friary and my prayer was literally, Lord, don't let me screw this up, right? Right? Because I know me. I know me. And for one reason or another, he chose me. Again, because I'm created in his image, but a lot of people are created in his image and likeness, but he chooses me. I remember a time when I was actually in Australia and one of the songs that they were singing was really beautiful. It was talking about the courage of God. And that's not an image that I had prayed much about. The idea that God is courageous is something that was kind of new to me, but I'm living witness to that, right? That the Lord chooses me and there's great courage in him choosing me, knowing how badly I could mess this up. But he chooses me, knowing my broken. So I love the fact that God chooses David, knowing all of the things that David was going to do. And he still chooses him. I was thinking and praying about this. And we all this is this being recorded. Is it OK? That I'm going to use air quotes because it's really, really important that we qualify this, right? Does God need you? Does he need you? No, not particularly. You know, maybe on a good day, he does when I'm at my best. He needs me. Right. God doesn't quote, unquote, need us to make sure he doesn't need us. And yet, doesn't he? I mean, he chooses me and he chooses me because in a moment, he's going to use me to be able to confect the Eucharist, to change bread and wine. So, yes, God does not need us. But the kingdom of God isn't going to be built without us. People's hearts aren't going to be changed without us. People aren't going to know the mercy of God in the sacrament of reconciliation without us. So does he quote, unquote, need us? I'm not going to say he does because I want to be claimed to heretic, but he kind of does. Right. What's that? A pseudo heretic coming from you, Hepburn. I take that as a compliment. He chooses us. I mean, he chooses to need us. Chooses to need us. That's pretty remarkable. The Almighty omnipotent on a holy, holy God whose heart has been set on me, chooses me because he needs us to build his kingdom, to show mercy to his people, to father the fatherless, to love the unlovable, to speak truth to those in total utter confusion. And he chooses you not because you're the smart scripture, not because you're the smartest, you're the greatest. He chooses because he set his sacred heart on you. And in that wants to do something remarkable with us. Amen. He has chosen, chose us. We are sacred. And ultimately, as we hear in the scriptures, because he loves us. Sorry, back to that, right, because he loves us. When I was praying last night, again, possible heresy that I'm about to speak. So just realized I was really tired, right? But I just I just had this image of and nobody knows what their conversation was between the father and the son before Jesus came. But just in my prayer time, I had this image of Jesus saying, Father, let me go. Right, knowing all that was in his divine nature, knowing all that was going to take place and how this was going to transpire. And, Father, let me go. I mean, let me go and show them and speak to them how they are loved, not from a distance. Father, just in just this image of him, like just waiting, it's like now. Now, let me go to reveal your love. Let me go and tell them about a love of a father that's different than any other love they've ever known. Any other love that they've ever experienced. Now, and I just see the father, it's like, oh, now, the time is now. We've identified the woman, the time is now. To come, why? To set his heart on us, to let us know that we are sacred, that we are chosen, ultimately brothers that we are loved. If this peace, the remedy of the sacred heart tells us anything, it tells us these three things. We share in the sacredness of God that we have been chosen and that we are loved. Amen.