 Thank you very much. Who's having a great conference so far? We're all talking at dinner. Just what a delightful group this has been and we've many of us have been speaking at this conference many years But the questions you have the energy you're bringing the enthusiasm for the word of God has been very contagious for all of us as the presenter So thank you for being here, but I also want to thank the university here as they're celebrating 40 years of conferences That is that is just an incredible achievement here How many souls Thousands of souls have been blessed over these 40 years from these conferences I know personally I remember back in their early 90s when I was working in Midland, Michigan I took our youth group down here to this conference I remember Attending just as a layman when I was there in Michigan and coming back a few weeks later for defending the faith and little Did I know if a little maybe two years after that I would be here as a student And I remember coming to all the conferences while I was doing my master's here and then For the great blessing of being able to present at these conferences for a little over 10 years now I think has been a great joy for me And I just know I meet people from all over the country who have come to a very one of the various Conferences here at Francis University and and it has been a great impact on their lives They've said so we're so grateful for the university to put this on so grateful for you to be here and celebrate this in this 40th year As we're turning our attention to the third chapter of Paul's letter to the Philippians I want to jump in somewhere in the middle I'm gonna look at chapter 3 verse 17 as kind of something to give us a Framework for the theme. I'm gonna be running at Running through here in this chapter and in chapter 3 verse 17 Paul says brethren join in imitating me and Mark those who so live as you have an example in us So Paul here is telling the Philippians to look at him as an example and to look at the others that he sent people like Timothy and As a great example and at first glance we could look at that and say And does Paul seem like he's boasting here. Is this a little bit of just self-righteousness? I mean imagine if I stood up and said hey everybody. I want you to look at me as a great example for Christian living Enjoyed with all the other speakers here. You know really just mark us as you know the great examples to follow You kind of feel wow that just seems a little a little boastful here but I really think what Paul's doing here is using language of Discipleship here in fact in 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse 1 Paul says be imitators of me as I am of Christ And at the heart of discipleship is this idea of imitating the master walking in the ways of the rabbi In fact when a rabbi would gather students together They they didn't just teach in a classroom like we might think of teachers teaching today But they would gather disciples and and not just give oral lessons, but really share life with the student with the disciple Think about what Jesus did when Jesus gathered the disciples together He didn't say okay meet me on that mountain on Monday Wednesdays and Fridays at 10 o'clock And I'm gonna I'm gonna teach you about the Beatitudes. No, he went camping with them basically for three years Now you can get to know people really well if you go camping with them I'm reminded of Pope Francis He says that shepherds should take on the smell of the sheep when you go camping with people You really can take on the smell of the sheep there But but Paul or Jesus he gathers the disciples for three years and he and the disciples are learning not just from what he Teaches but from the way he lived they're watching the way he prayed They're watching the way he studied They're watching the way he served the poor he cared for those who were suffering They're watching the way he debated with his opponents. They're watching the way he taught In fact, there's an expression that could describe this idea of of following in the footsteps of the rabbi It is more is caught than taught And so the disciples are brought into a whole way of life And it's that whole way of life that they pass on to the people that they're discipling And so the life of a disciple also another key characteristic is that it's not a one-time choice It's not as if Matthew was called and Peter was called and they said yes on the sea of Galilee They said yes in the tax collector's office, and then it's all done. It's an ongoing relationship It's an ongoing process of conversion of conforming your life ever more to the ways of the master and in in terms of Christ It's all about giving more loving more serving more surrendering more Our holy father Pope Francis I think is concerned that there are many Christians out there who kind of just settle into their identity And aren't really living in discipleship, and that's why in his great Apostolic exhortation, which is the title of This conference joy of the gospel He calls us to renew our encounter with Christ and to really live as missionary Disciples he says he's concerned that there are many Christians that kind of just settle into their own comfort zones And they become mediocre. They become stagnant. They become what I like to call Chicago Cubs Catholics No, what do I mean by that? And who's from any cubs fans out there by the way? Okay, I'm from Chicago. I lived an hour away from really field for a while and and I'm I am a cubs fan I am a I am a cubs fan, but being a cubs fan. There's just lots of suffering with with So it's very catholic, you know the only difference between catholic suffering and cubs suffering is that catholic suffering is redemptive Cubs suffering is just pointless, you know It's like every every year you get to june and and a cubs fan is saying the same three words maybe next year, right? Yeah You know and you know, I know this year we're doing well We got that guy from the red Sox the general manager and there's this farm team and I keep hearing all this hope and stuff But you know, we'll make 500 maybe this year and as a cubs fan you go We should do that every once in a while and maybe every decade or two will make the playoffs But the world series No, that's just for the really really good teams, you know, that's not for us Yeah, and that's the attitude that some of us might have as catholics that we can fall into while I follow the church. I follow the pope. I go to mass. I believe the things But are we really growing in our discipleship? Are we really imitating st paul who is imitating jesus christ evermore? It reminds me of something that happened in my my family recently. There was um A babysitter who told us the story about what went on with my my five and a half year old daughter So my my my daughter was playing with a friend that was over and and they were they were she was tickling the friend and Getting a little rough and so the babysitter just said oh you shouldn't do that and all of a sudden as soon as she Realized that she had done something wrong. She just stood up really straight And she had this look of fear and she just said I'm trying to be good And then the babysitter asked said oh, well, how's that going for you? And she goes With this look of real sorrow. It's really really hard But that struggle to be good that struggle To take on more the character of christ It's hard and that struggle is discipleship Uh, and and what we're gonna look at tonight is I want to take a look at how st paul in chapter three Is really helping us to apply what he already wrote about in chapter two And the centerpiece of chapter two Which is really the the great gem of the whole letter that great hymn in philippians two five through 11 What he does in chapter three is basically he's gonna challenge us To not just know the hymn not just believe the theology that's in the hymn But to live the hymn and so for our opening prayer for this presentation I'd like to just get our minds reflecting on that hymn before we move forward in chapter three If we could do that in the name of the father and of the son of the holy spirit Amen have this mind among yourselves, which was in christ jesus Who though he was in the form of god did not count equality with god a thing to be grasped But emptied himself taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even death on a cross Therefore god has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name That at the name of jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth And every tongue confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father Amen and the name of the father and the son of the holy spirit Amen, so in chapter three Paul challenges us to live out the hymn so to speak to live out this idea of this total Self emptying this canosis of christ so that then in christ we may be exalted We may find our fulfillment that god has in store for us And so the first way he goes after this and the application i'm gonna i'm gonna bring out for us in chapter three Is is a question i would say which badges is the question which badges in other words How do i know? I am a really faithful christian and i'm really a part of god's family This was a question that was on the forefront of paul's mind here at the beginning of chapter three Listen to what he says at the beginning of chapter three finally my brethren Rejoice in the lord to write the same things to you is not irksome to me and is safe for you And then he gives a big warning here to the philippians Look out for the dogs Look out for the evildoers Look out for those who mutilate the flesh For we are the true circumcision who worship god and spirit and glory in christ jesus and put no confidence in the flesh Here we're seeing paul using this very bold language a strong language Describing his opponents some group of people that is Causing some problems going to cause some problems with the philippian communities warning them watch out for these people He calls them dogs. He calls them evildoers and these are people who mutilate the flesh Who are these people as most scholars recognize these are the judaisers these are jewish christians who are wanting to impose The old testament ceremonial laws particularly circumcision on the gentiles the idea when a gentile wants to convert and become a christian There are some of these christians saying well, you're gonna have to go through the old testament process as well You're gonna have to be circumcised and so a big question then that that is arising in early christian entity is How do we know if we are a part of god's people? How do we know who is a part of the covenant people of god? And there were many that were saying circumcision is the chief identity marker as it was in the old covenant We still need to do this. This will be our covenant badge. This is how we know we're a part of god's people But paul Is concerned about this and he's saying no We don't need that anymore because this sign of circumcision and then the rest of the old testament ceremonial laws Put us under the old covenant the old covenant has ended it has passed So he goes on to say here in verse three. We are the true circumcision Now what does he mean by that? I think a passage from romans could be helpful here paul makes a similar kind of statement in romans chapter two Verses 28 and 29 where he says he who is a jew He is a jew who is one inwardly And real circumcision is a matter of the heart In other words, there were some that were boasting in their ethnic identity as being a physical descendant of abraham And then circumcision was there was the chief sign of being a part of the descendants of abraham But paul says in romans two that are a true jew is one who is one inwardly And real circumcision is not just a physical thing. It's really a matter of the heart And that's going to be important for us to understand here. What does he mean? He says real circumcision is a matter of the heart here paul is alluding to a great passage In the book of deuteronomy. It's one of the great prophetic foreshadowings about the Profound work god wants to do in our hearts when he sends his spirit in deuteronomy We have moses before he is going to die leave the people and they're going to go into the promised land He gives them the law And he tells them here are the blessings and the curses of the law if you're faithful to the law You're going to be blessed in this land But if you're unfaithful to the law you break god's covenant You're going to lose the land just as adam was expelled out of eden You're going to be expelled out of this land And then in deuteronomy chapter 30 paul said or moses basically says I know what you're going to do You're going to end up breaking the law and you're going to end up in exile So he gives a prophecy of what's going to happen in the future Israel isn't going to be faithful. They're going to be carried away in exile But god is not going to abandon them God is going to gather them back and he's going to restore the people And when he restores the people he's going to do a magnificent work in their heart He says moses says in deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 6 that the lord will circumcise your heart And cause you to love the lord with all your heart with all your soul And so moses is giving a prophecy about something god's going to do in the future That's going to enable israel to live the law in a way that they couldn't have before Through some work in their heart And we know that deuteronomy goes on to say that it's going to help them be able to keep all of god's commands And we know that later prophets are going to shed more light on this idea of the great work god will do in our hearts Prophets like ezekiel and Jeremiah are going to talk about how god is going to send his spirit Into our hearts and our weak hearts will be changed. They're going to be transformed with christ love with christ spirit And so this is the great Key point of st paul here that he's saying we're the true circumcision. Why because we worship in the spirit We have that spirit that has come into our hearts that has changed our hearts And this is a great gift for us that we want if we want to sense our true identity How do I know if i'm a true christian? We want to ask how much am i cooperating with the work of god's grace in my life God's spirit in my heart. How much is my heart being changed? How much am i Taking on more and more the qualities the characteristics of christ himself There was a great analogy that In the catholic tradition to describe the power of the spirit the power of this this grace in our lives It's the analogy of an iron rod If you were to take an iron rod you were to put it into fire The the iron rod begins taking on the properties the characteristics of the fire It may become orange or red. It becomes very hot It emits smoke it begins to take on the properties the characteristics of of fire And it's still a rod, but it takes on the the quality of fire And and and the same happens when our human nature Enters into the furnace of god's love the furnace of god's holy spirit so to speak And I know some of you were at one of the presentations where they were talking about the idea of deification divinization the idea that we we become changed that we aren't just Called sons and daughters of god, but as st. John says we really are sons and daughters of god Transformed by christ spirit so that his spirit is changing us that we take on his very characteristics. We still aren't we're not god But we become like god we become More and more imitating god is his very life is working through us and so If we want to think about where do we find our true christian identity It's going to be found in Our cooperating with the holy spirit in his work in our hearts being transformed as st Paul says in second Corinthians from one degree to another of christ likeness Now practical application then for us though is this so you know, I remember preparing for this this presentation and looking at Okay, it's the thursday night presentation I got to get a lot of practical points and the opening chapter is all about whether or not we should be circumcised I So But but I do think that that we do face a similar challenge in our own lives and asking as catholics What badges do we cling on to where do we find our identity as christians? You know, some people might be tempted to put their identity more in certain kinds of spirituality Well, I really like the franciscan thing or I like the carmelite thing and and we think that like that's that the center Of what it means to be a christian or maybe it's I like praise and worship music or I like Traditional hymns or I like charismatic spirituality or I like latin mass or I like this kind of bible story I like this kind of small group and and we can we can be focused on those things but even is even Even broader some of us might put our our our hope or our find our identity In things like i'm an orthodox catholic I'm a pro-life catholic I'm pro marriage And we can say that's what really defines me as a true christian and in our dna age Let's be honest to be a pro-life catholic is heroic to be especially A catholic that stands for true marriage a marriage between a man and a woman That is heroic to stand up and say that today And to be faithful to all the church's teachings That that you're going to stand out you are like in the 99 percentile of all the people in the world when you when you start Adding on all those characteristics And so we who hold those values and and are willing to to defend them willing to die for them We could start patting ourselves on the back and going you know compared to the world out there We're all really good. I'm just I'm just doing a lot better than everybody else But what we have to see is the heart of a disciple isn't simply Following the rules The heart of a disciple isn't about simply having all the right answers now. Don't get me wrong I want to be very clear on this We absolutely need to follow god's moral law and and it is essential that we We believe all that christ is revealed and it's and it's been passed on through the church But maybe an analogy would be like this if I were to ask you Um, or if you are somewhere to say if I were to tell you all hey, I'm a really great basketball player I'm a really great basketball player and then you were all to say oh So Ted three tell me tell me why are you a great basketball player? And I said because I follow all the rules Yeah, really I don't step out of bounds I don't double dribble. I don't travel with the ball. I'm a great basketball player lebron. Let's go That doesn't make me a great basketball player, right? I mean following the rules essential You're not going to be a great basketball player if you don't follow the rules you need that But but you need a lot more And we have to see that the heart of the disciple isn't just following the rules It's all about participating evermore in christ's death and resurrection It's about dying to myself evermore surrendering more cooperating with god's grace more loving more It's about what we looked at this morning in brant's presentation about humility You know, do I really consider? The others around me is better than me to really look out for their interests Not just my own interests This this is the this is what we need to be growing in in discipleship This is this is where we really run a run after not just the I got a pro-life badge Or I got a I'm an orthodox catholic badge or I follow the pope's teaching badge Those are all again essential good things to do we'd have to do them But the heart of our christian faith is more about being transformed by christ's spirit Cooperating with his grace and in fact the what the saints often said You know was a great sign of sanctity a sign of holiness Wasn't just did you have all the right answers and did you follow the rules? It was did you love your neighbor? Did you love your neighbor? Were you patient? Are you patient with the people around you? Do you bear with other people's faults? Well Do I am I generous? with my time And do I care for the poor and for the suffering? Do I really live for others or do I live more for myself? Am I really living this hymn? Am I emptying myself evermore? Now, uh, st. Augustine has a line about this. He was reflecting on Uh, Philippians chapter three. He talked about how the the true christian is always pressing on That's an image from from paul later on in the chapter. They were pressing on toward the goal We're straining forward like like my daughter. I'm trying to be good. It's hard But i'm but i'm always growing in my In my own imitation of christ st. Augustine says when he's he's reflecting on what it does it really mean to walk with christ in this way He says what does walking mean? I shall answer briefly. It means going forward Examine yourself. You should always be unhappy with what you are If you want to attain what you are not yet For when you are content with yourself You stayed where you are because you say enough and you're finished that very minute Always grow always walk on always advance. Do not stop on the way. Do not turn back. Do not go off course One who does not advance is standing still And so what badge are we going to turn to how do I know if i'm a faithful catholic? Is it I went to the conference for the 15th year in a row? Great thing to do is that I pray my rosary every day excellent thing to do But those are all things that are going to feed something deeper and that is My own internal transformation becoming ever more like christ walking in discipleship with jesus taking on evermore the qualities of christ Allowing his grace to change my heart Now a second big second theme I want to I want to consider here Is this idea of total self emptying that we see in the hymn and paul talks about this idea next in his own life paul goes on in chapter three verses four through six and Gives kind of a picture of of what his life was like before he was a christian and he's saying okay There's these judo Judeisers that are out there these people that are really boasting in their ethnic identity in their status as having been jews Before they became christians and he's and he says if there's ever been someone who could boast in his ethnic status And his his life as a jew would be me So verse four or verse five Four and five here if any other man thinks he has reason for confidence in a flesh. I have more Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of israel of the tribe of benjamin a hebra of hebra As to the law of Pharisee as to zeal a persecutor of the church as to righteousness under the law Blameless What a resume that is I mean think about it. He was circumcised. He didn't just say I was circumcised. He says I was circumcised on the last on the eighth day In other words, I I was circumcised right exactly when I was supposed to be My parents followed the law I was from the people of israel but not just the people of israel of the 12 tribes But particularly of the tribe of benjamin one of the the tribes in the southern kingdom that were part of the The the the kingdom of juda where the messianic line came from I I was part of it was the hebra of hebra's and as to the law I was a Pharisee the most rigorous some of the most respected leaders of the jewish people I had great zeal and as to righteousness under the law. I was blameless I mean paul was top of the class. He was one of the best jews in his time He was a leading teacher having studied under one of the leading rabbis. He was he had great impact He was successful. He was a man in his young age who had already accomplished an awful lot And yet paul considered it all to be Dung Actually, I think michael barber brought that out this morning. It was rubbish, you know, as often how it's often translated But he says all of this to me was just like dung. That's the actual what the word actually means In other words, his life radically changed when he encountered jesus christ and he came to see that whatever gain He had he said I counted as loss for the sake of christ indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing christ my lord When he encounters jesus on that road to damascus, his whole world is turned upside down Jesus asks him to give up everything give all that up and follow him And his conversion is a real death for paul It's a death to his very self a death to his old ways of thinking a death to his old ways of living And yet he finds great new life in this and this is the pattern that we see Which god works with all the great heroes of the bible all the great saints whether it's abraham God calls abraham to give up everything to leave everything behind and go to this distant land And when he's there he challenges him to even give up his own son a mount mariah To be willing to be detached from everything Self-emptying moses called at the burning bush to go back to the land of egypt He's living a nice quiet life out there midian now He's got to go all the way back to egypt where they're trying to kill him confront the wicked dictator ferro He's thinking why i just got an easier life here and god calls him out of that The blessed virgin mary we think while she made her great fiat and then you know is very easy until good friday You know, but if you look at her life It's just one constant challenge Of taking out another step of faith another leap of trust And entering into greater suffering step by step You know, she gives her fiat and then 90 nine months and 40 days later She's confronted by simian who gives the prophecy about the sword Imagine being a mom having to bear with that prophecy knowing one day my son is going to be killed And then 12 years later She loses the son in the temple for three days doesn't know where he was and the bible says she didn't understand She didn't understand what was going on there and when her son's 30 years old She commissions him to go off and begin his public ministry encouraging him a cana Even though she knows it's going to lead to the sword And then there's good friday where she gives up everything her own son her own flesh and blood to the father And so discipleship is all about this constant growth In canosis and self-giving, you know, one of the saints in our own times. I like to think about When I when I was thinking about this hymn is mother Teresa blessed mother Teresa You know Many people know about mother Teresa and her starting the missionaries of charity and serving the poor But they don't know really her interior drama the great story within her soul But that all came out shortly after she died and many of her letters revealed what was really going on inside and we know That yes, she became originally a loretto sister And that in itself was a heroic step of faith She left Albania left her mom who she was very close to her family her dear friends And in those days you would never think she would ever come back to that country In fact, she when she said goodbye to her mother. She never saw her mother again Even though her mother lived into the 70s The the Albanian communist regime did not allow mother Teresa to come back And so she never was reunited with her mother. That was a great Pain for mother Teresa great suffering and she goes off to become this missionary sister Teaching the middle-class children in India as a loretto sister And she's there serving and and having a great impact doing great work and on one day on a retreat She decides that she wants to To give Jesus a great spiritual gift on this retreat She said that she wanted to love Jesus and he had never been loved before And so she made a private vow A private vow to not refuse Jesus anything Under pain of mortal sin. I don't advise you all to go do this You know, she did this in consultation with spiritual director at all But it was this just shows this radical gift. She just wanted to say yes to whatever Jesus might ask her I mean, this is an incredible step of faith and then years later She's on a train ride going on another retreat And jesus speaks to her and asks her like he asked st. Paul to give it all up To give it all up and start all over again To go leave the loretto sisters that she had loved Leave her teaching that she loved And go and serve the poorest of the poor live like them eat like them sleep like them dress like them And do you think she was jumping up and down? Oh cool. I could be on time magazine one day and win a noble prize. Maybe Listen to what jesus says to her She was scared and jesus says will you refuse? When there was a question of your soul, I did not think of myself But I gave myself freely for you on the cross. What about you? Will you refuse? And she goes he goes on and says I want indian nuns Nuns covered with my poverty of the cross. I want obedient nuns covered with my obedience on the cross I want full of love nuns covered with my charity on the cross. Will you refuse to do this for me? Notice jesus isn't hiding the cross from her. He's he's calling her to start the mission. He's a charity He just says yeah these vows, you know poverty chastity obedience. It's all about the cross It's going to be really hard And mother Teresa says i'm unworthy. I'm sinful. I'm weak. Why don't you choose someone else and jesus comes back And says you have become my spouse for my love Compliments her you've done a lot for me. You've become a sister. You've come to india. You've made this vow You've done all these wonderful things The thirst you had for souls has brought you so far Are you afraid now to take one more step for your spouse? For me for souls You've taken all these steps of faith. Are you ready to take one more? And then he says is your generosity growing cold? Am I second to you? I mean this is mother Teresa. This is intense You think you think about man, what would jesus say to me, but he's really pressing in he goes on and listen to next He says you did not die for souls. That is why you don't care what happens to them And then he points the problem You're afraid you're afraid you're gonna lose your vocation That you'll become a secular and you'll be found wanting in perseverance The issue is she was afraid That she'd start this new order and it wouldn't work out and she'd be a failure and she'd become a secular And mother admits she goes i'm so afraid this fear shows me how much i love myself And she admits she's also afraid of the suffering that will come through leading that indian life Clothing like them eating like them sleeping like them living like them How much comfort has taken possession of my my heart And then jesus comes back and says you have always been saying do with me whatever you wish Now i want to act let me do it do not fear Do you ever make a prayer like that by the way you say jesus. Hey, whatever you want Be careful Because he may press in and actually call you on it like you did with mother Teresa But the idea here is all the great saints and i'm just using her as one example You know, they gave some and then jesus invites them to give more and to give more But it's all about a deeper conformity to the hymn of Philippians 2 to that total canosis that total self emptying And i think today in our own day and age jesus is looking for souls Especially today who are willing to follow him like mother Teresa did Like abraham did like paul did who are willing to give up everything You know in jesus's day when he's out You're preaching in galilee. There were all these crowds these large crowds that followed him, right? Do you ever wonder where were they on good friday? What happened there? I mean they followed him Do you remember why they followed him because they were amazed at his teaching while this man teaches with authority they say And they're also, you know, so we're really taken in by really dynamic teaching from jesus But then they also were taken in by his great miracles and signs and wonders he performed They say we've never seen anything like this in all of israel. This is incredible But where were they on good friday? Just a few Followed him all the way to the cross And i think today in the new evangelization is the spirit is raising up more and more men and women laity religious priests clergy To to to be a part of this renewal jesus is out there looking again to see Who is willing to enter the hymn who is willing To give everything because there's a lot of people out there that you know like Learning about their faith and they might listen to a bunch of cds or read a lot of books and and they like feeding themselves And that's all a good thing, but are they willing to follow jesus to the cross? there are a lot of people that You know they go through a little conversion experience and their life is noticeably better You know they have better friends and they notice they're a little nicer to be around their family life might be a little better And so there's real benefits in following god's plan for your life But am i following this plan for what i get out of it? Or i'm willing to give god everything and realize my life is not my own There are many people that follow jesus for the great signs that the great things he does in our lives But are we willing to follow him all the way to the cross mother trisa wrote about that a lot she said that Few people were with jesus on good friday But if you want to love jesus on good friday, if you want to draw near to the cross, it's gonna hurt Because when you draw near to the cross the face of jesus if you wanted to kiss jesus on good friday She says a thorn may poke you in the head a nail may pierce you if you draw near to jesus like that It's going to hurt But here's the great mystery This is my third point now is that yes, we're called to live this total conosis this total self-emptying But when we do this We find not just loss all is not loss But we gain so much more and that's what paul says indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing christ jesus my lord You know, it's it's the great law john paul's second called it the law of ecstasy's the law of Self-giving going out of oneself and the idea is that When I actually live like christ when I i'm like that grain of wheat that goes down to the ground and dies It's gonna bear fruit my life when I actually live my life for god and for others My life is actually much more enriched John paul's second often said man finds himself only when he makes himself a sincere gift So when we live the hymn when we live for others and we live for god We experience great peace and great joy As st paul will write about in the next chapter chapter four But when we don't live the hymn instead of self-giving I live life more for self-getting I'm always looking at what do I get out of everything for my life Instead of self-emptying pouring my life out to god and to others I'm if I if i'm living a life of grasping as paul would say in philippines where i'm grasping at life for myself What do I get out of this or grasping for control grasping for money grasping for security? My life is always going to be filled with worry and anxiety and frustration and emptiness So how do we overcome that? How do we make sure we stay on the task and living the hymn? Uh, so paul says if when we don't we're gonna experience great anxiety. How do we avoid anxiety? Well st thomas Aquinas He has some great treatment on on anxiety in the in the virtues when he's talking about Uh, different ways that we can allow our worry to become sinful So he gives a couple of things here. First of all, he says when we start making something on this one On this world, like we make it like this is I have to have this I can't imagine I'll be happy without this whether it's a certain job or a certain position Or maybe a certain location a certain relationship some dream I have for one of my kids when I kind of make that I have to have that That's a sign of of something's off or maybe when you know, we're too worried about something and I'm distracted from spiritual things You know, I'm just worried about this problem And I can get so preoccupied by a problem or a decision or a dilemma that I don't I don't really I'm not really paying attention to mass. I'm not really focused on my prayer I remember one time I had to make a decision. This is back in my 20s. I had to make a big decision I'm trying to decide what to do and I was all stressed out by this decision I had this pro and cons list and I'm trying to figure it all out I remember I go to my spiritual director and I had this that my little notebook I go father I've been thinking about what I'm supposed to do and I think this would be good If I do it this but if I do this then this would be the benefit and he's just sitting there kind of going like this Like almost laughing underneath, you know his Fingers and and then finally after I did my little 10-minute presentation on my pros and cons list He just looked at me and says, Ted have you talked to God about this? I said, oh, yeah, I prayed about it. He goes, no have really Have you asked God what he thinks and listen to him? And I hadn't because I had focused so much on my little dilemma And it was distracting me from really listening to the Lord. That's another sign of of something being off Another thing that we do is We sometimes can just worry about the future so much We're worried about what's going to happen in the future. Well, how is this all going to work out? And Aquinas says you can have too much anxiety also about the future and when we're worried too much about the future We're not able to give ourselves to God and the people in our lives in the present. Well My wife is really great at this issue. I can be someone that could worry about the future I remember when we were first expecting, you know our first baby I was so excited to be a dad, but there's another part of me thinking, okay I've got nine months to read all the books. I ever wanted to read And nine months to do all the writing projects ever wanted to do I remember thinking, you know, my life is going to be radically changed And after the baby comes I'm never going to sleep again because I heard all about this, you know My wife said we're not dying You know, and sure enough then second baby comes third baby. Now I'm on the baby seven. I'm still fine But but at the time I remember there was a great quote that my wife Gave to me. She was reading from her own her own prayer life And it was it's very very important point. I'm gonna paraphrase it. It's like this If you worry about the future now You may not have the grace to deal with it now But you will have the grace to deal with it when you need it And my wife will remind me of this quote many times, you know, she'll just She's very very peaceful and trusting in the Lord But that there's a very important point that I could foresee maybe something's going to happen in the future And I'm worried about that But right now it hasn't unfolded. It's not there yet and I could be all anxious about it now Because I'm so trying to be it. I'm so attached and grasping at something I want for the future And let's say God isn't going to let me have that in the future But in the future he'll give me the grace to deal with that But right now I'm just grasping after I want to control the situation for the future And I don't have the grace to deal with it and I'm too attached And what's that's going to cause me just great stress I'm not going to experience the great peace and joy that comes In following Jesus and living the hymn and being more detached And so that's the key thing from Aquinas is that why are we often given into anxiety and stress? It's because we're too attached either the things of this world Thinking that we absolutely need them or they were too attached and it distracts us from spiritual things Or we're too attached to what we want for the future But on the flip side of things if we really are living conosis and we're giving God everything Emptying ourselves trusting our lives to him abandoning our lives to him Then we can experience what paul calls a great peace that's beyond all understanding I want to share with you a story and I really don't get this right Most of the times of my life probably but I remember back And again in my 20s when I first came back from Rome. I had my first job Offer and it was to teach in a little tiny town in Kansas called Atchison, Kansas at a college called benedicton college And I was only there for a nine month contract. There was a professor A religious sister who was away and I was just subbing for her for that one academic year So just I thought okay nine months in Atchison. I can live nine months anywhere. That'll be fine But when I got there, I loved the school. I fell in love with the school I fell in love with the students It was a wonderful place and I wished I could stay But you know, I didn't have a contract to stay and so I knew I had to start looking for what the next step was going to be So I started making my plans for the next year and there was a Newman Center at a big state university It was building a theology catechetical program for its students They're going to have classes and certification all this and they wanted me to apply for it And so I did and I went down to visit the school and they were great people There was an awesome priest there a great visionary and it was a great job And it was going to pay really well and they they were building up a new program They're going to let me run with it. I was all excited. So in many ways, this was like a great dream job And another thing it was a college town And so there were a lot of other graduate students all around a lot of people my age And I was single at the time I thought I'm going to probably meet a wife here better than better chances than in nowhere, Kansas to ever try to do that And so I was really hoping the job was going to work out and sure enough They called and they offered me the job and I was like, oh, this is great And I said, well, here, let me just, you know, as I always should let me just take a day or two to pray about And I'll get back to you after the weekend And over that weekend, I just kept having this sense. I'm not supposed to take this job That God wanted me to say no and I didn't have anything else lined up It didn't make sense and I didn't want to give up this opportunity But I sense he just wanted me to just trust him to let go To give it up to not cling on to this chance And so I remember how much it hurt To let go of that opportunity, especially not having any other options I had no idea what I was going to do the next year And I remember I got off the phone telling them no and they couldn't believe I said no because we got along so well And I mean, I had this stomach ache afterwards and I was thinking what am I doing? What am I just doing? But even amid all that pain and uncertainty, I still had a deeper piece a sense that This is what God wants. He wanted me to just lay this all out and just to trust And so I did that and I didn't know what I was going to do and then about a week and a half later I got a call from the head of our department, a Benedictine priest, Father Dennis He says, Ted, you're not going to believe this, but that sister who was supposed to come back next year She's not coming back. Would you like to stay? I said, hey man, I'd like to stay And I could see all in God's providence. Thanks be to God. It was right then we so I accepted that and then the next semester We started a program with my friend Curtis Martin called Focus Fellowship of Catholic University students It was born there at Benedictine College I ended up staying not just for nine months, but ended up being nine wonderful years And then I actually that very next semester after having taken the job to stay on found the woman who would become my wife In little nowhere, nowhere, uh, uh, Kansas after all So, uh, I but there was that deeper piece beyond all the understanding that can only be found when We actually live the hymn When we are living total conosis giving our lives totally to God Pouring ourselves out emptying ourselves and not grasping on our own If I would have grasped for that job, my life would be very different I may not even be here presenting before you right now Uh, that was so formative in my life that time But I want to turn in our closing time to something maybe a little more serious here of all these topics are serious But serious for our own day St. Paul at the end of chapter three talks about those who are enemies of the cross There are many whose minds are set on earthly things. He says But he reminds us our commonwealth is in heaven And from it we await a savior the lord Jesus christ Now this language about our commonwealth is in heaven this idea of our commonwealth being in heaven You could think of this as the idea of our citizenship is in heaven in philippi In in in philippi you had this was a colony of rome And this colony was you know, there are many philippians are very preoccupied with the idea of roman citizenship There were some roman citizens had been settled by a lot of veterans So a lot of people that are protected by roman law then their others were considered mere greeks had no security of roman citizenship But in rome There is one leader that is considered lord and savior And that is caesar is considered lord and savior But paul here by saying our commonwealth Is in heaven he's saying the real citizenship that really matters The real citizenship of a christian is not on this earth. It's not the roman empire. It's heaven And our ultimate allegiance is to the lord and savior who is not caesar But is jesus christ And i think there's a lot of application For philippians in our own lives today And i have a feeling it's going to become even increasingly so very applicable for the life of christians As we continue to face greater and greater pressures in the culture To conform to a certain mindset a certain way of living of moral relativism Is is that we are pushed in this direction more. It's going to be really hard To confirm our our allegiance to jesus christ. It's going to be tested like never before You know i'm thinking about even before recent events with the supreme court. There was a A young woman that i knew when she was a college This is maybe about four or five years ago She was at big state university and was a catholic and Was you know committed to her faith and and in her first second semester as a freshman She happened to be taking i don't know like a political science class i think and the professor asked the students Question in an anonymous survey and various questions about political beliefs religious beliefs moral beliefs And after class she was walking out with her friend and the friend asked her Hey, so what did you put for the question about gay marriage? And she said oh i i said i was against it and he said oh i said i was for it and kind of smiled She just kept talking about other things. He said all right i'll see you at the party tonight Okay, i'll see you later And then she goes to this party off campus at this big house that night And everyone's just hanging out and all of a sudden her friend stands up on a chair It says hey everybody have an announcement to make Guess what she put on the survey in class when the professor asked about gay marriage Guess what she said she said she was against it And all of a sudden everyone started looking at her saying really you were against it How could you how could you be so big and how come you're so judgment? Well, and she's just trying to answer Well, I just think it's wrong. I think marriage between anyone and they all I mean Dozens and dozens of people college students start Pouncing on her not physically but just berating her And saying you are so intolerant your judgmental and literally after about a half hour they threw her out of the party She told me later on that when she walked out that party She knew she did not ever want to have to stand up for her faith again It cost too much And so she started to become a relativist she still would say things like that's well for me You know, I think marriage should be between a man and a woman and that's what I want to do But I guess if other people want to do that and that makes them happy that's fine for them Now why did she change her belief because of the great pressure? That she was receiving from her peers around her And then that led to her justifying not just gay marriage But she started saying the same things about abortion and a whole array of issues And when your mind starts allowing yourself to make those kinds of moves Guess what else she started to do as she proceeded in her college career. She started Justifying immorality in her own life And then she eventually stopped even going to mass on Sundays at all Thanks be to god her last semester of her senior year Some other people reached out to her and she got reconnected and she's now actually working in ministry In the church But I share that story because of what we're really up against in our culture today Especially in this younger generation You know, it reminds me of something Pope Benedict said actually right before he became Pope Benedict If you remember the famous pre conclave homily that he gave as cardinal rotsinger He said this He talked about basically one of the biggest challenges to living the face today Is this idea of relativism the idea that there's no truth You can have your truth I can have my truth, but there's no truth to which we're all accountable And so in a culture like that it's really hard to talk about morality and he said quote Today having a clear faith based on the creed of the church is often labeled as fundamentalism Whereas relativism seems to be the only attitude That is acceptable in modern times So the idea here is that if you're not a relativist if if you actually hold on to some kind of religious belief or a moral belief You're gonna be you're gonna be persecuted today. You're not gonna be tolerated if you express a conviction On some moral truth. You're gonna be labeled a fundamentalist if you say I think abortion is wrong People are gonna say you're so intolerant Or I think premarital sex is wrong. Oh, you're so judgmental. I think a marriage is between a man and a woman How bigoted you are And in this culture, it's gonna be harder and harder for us to remain faithful But paul is reminding us that our commonwealth our citizenship is in heaven And our allegiance is to jesus christ Let's remember this conference remember this letter and remember from where paul all paul wrote this letter He was in prison for the faith We don't know if that is going to happen to all of us here in this room May not but we're all going to face. We're already facing hostility and persecution The question is will we remain faithful and remember our primary allegiance? Will we say With st paul that our allegiance is to christ our lord and savior Will we say with people like saint thomas morer who said as he was going to his death He's often quoted as saying I died the good king servant But god's first may we be the servants of the true king who died for us on the cross who gave up everything And in his self-emptying Was exalted and the more we live in that allegiance to that king and in union with him in him The more that we will be exalted in him as well. Thank you so much. Let's close an up gory b You