 It is so nice to be here, it's here in this room. It's kind of exciting. I went to school in Franciscan and attended talks here, and I've never been on this side, so this is kind of exciting, I know, I know. All right, well, let's go ahead and get started, and we'll begin in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Come Holy Spirit. God, all that we do is yours. I give you permission to take over every single thought and every single word that comes out of my mouth, and I give you permission to enter into every single heart that is here. God, we are all yours. Do with us as you will. Amen. Amen, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Hey, hello, everyone, my name is Maddie Pablo. I am coming to you from Miami, Florida. It's a great place. The heat lost the game last night, and I'm not over it, but it is okay, because we have another chance on Monday. All right, so I'm coming to you from Miami. My family is originally from Dominican Republic and Palestine, so I think that's pretty cool. And I got to go to the Holy Land this year for the first time, which is pretty epic. Has anyone been to the Holy Land? Raise your hand. If you haven't, put that on your bucket list, because it's pretty awesome, right? It's the land of holiness, and it's a really great thing. And I got to go to the land of holiness in my Jesus year, so I'm 33. And so, yeah, super exciting. I definitely threw a Jesus party this year, where everyone came like biblical characters from the New Testament. Yeah, yeah, but not Jesus or Mary, because I thought that was borderline, not okay. But I had a back and a Jerusalem, and we walked on water and had water and wine, and it was the most extra thing I've done in my life, and I loved every second of it, and it's wonderful. And so it's so good to be here with you all today, to be here at Franciscan at this conference. The fact that you're here just shows that you want more and that you're hungry, and that's what we're here for. And so this topic and this, when we were talking about what kind of things to do, I was kind of talking about, you know what? I think we need to address our passions and desires, and kind of the things that we love, because I don't think we talk about it enough. And I think way too many of us, and this was my assumption as well, we kind of assume that when you get to your age, you've got to figure it out. And as I get older, I realize I know nothing. So I'm learning and I'm growing, and there's so much more to go, right? And so I want us to just start with that basic question if you're here, you know I'm gonna ask it, right? Like, what are you passionate about? Okay, what are you passionate about? And I want you guys to think about that. I'm gonna give you just, you know, 17 seconds to think about that, okay? What are you passionate about? Have you guys seen TED Talks ever? Yeah. All right, so there's TED Talks, and this whole thing started from people that just have a lot of knowledge, and they started doing these presentations on things that they really care about, and they're really passionate about, and they're very knowledgeable on, and they started blowing up, right? And there are some that have blown up more than others, and Bernay Brown is one of them that I'm super grateful for. Her thing on, I know she's awesome. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look her up. She has a whole thing of one ability to change my life, et cetera, great. And it's this thing of what amazing things can happen when you give someone a platform to talk about their passions and their knowledge, and people are able to listen and learn. I'm learning more and more that there are areas that I know, and there are areas that I'm comfortable with. So I studied theology and psychology. I'm comfortable in those areas. And there are areas that I have no idea about anything, like finance, and anything with numbers, and anything medical, and anything with the ground. I mean, there's just so many topics that I don't know, right? And it's cool because we're able to learn from each other. And so I wanna do something that's gonna give you a little bit. I know I'm gonna ask you to go out of your comfort zone, but hey, we're here, so why not do it, okay? If you had to give a TED Talk right now, right now, what would it be on? Just in your head, in your head, you could just say it in your head. But I love that you're ready, I love that you're ready. All right. And right now, what I want you to do is I want you to think about it. And what we're gonna do is there's something really powerful about having conversations with people and learning from each other and hearing each other's stories. And I think we don't do it enough. And some people are like, oh, this is muddy. I don't do that, right? It's just a conversation. Hopefully you talk to people at some point in life, right? And what I want you to do is I would like for you to just meet with the person around you, preferably the person that you do not know. So if you have to just, if you know this person, turn over to this person. If you know both of them, turn around, right? And what I want you to do, we're gonna do an exercise and listening as well because listening is important. And so this is the challenging part. I'm gonna time you guys and I'm gonna have one person go first and you're just gonna give a mini TED Talk about two minutes. And you're gonna talk for about two minutes about the thing that you're really passionate about. And then I'm gonna say stop. And here's the thing, and pay attention because if you're an extrovert and you think out loud like me, when the other person's talking, you are not. Yeah, you're not talking, you're listening, okay? So great job, all right? So you're just listening and actually paying attention. And I think that's a really big thing, right? And if again, if you're like me, when the thousand thoughts come in your head while the other person's talking, really try to focus on what the other person's listening, okay? And then we're gonna say swap and then the other person's gonna be the listener and you're gonna be the one talking. Does that sound good to everyone? All right, look around and just like make eye contact to the person that you're gonna connect with. All right? Bye! High school teacher for eight years. So this is just bringing me back. It's pretty great, it's pretty great. Thank you, thank you. All right, raise your hand if you learned something new. Awesome. Raise your hand if you know more than you thought you did about this topic. Raise your hand if you learned that you thought you said, mm-hmm. Raise your hand if you know less than you think you did about this topic. Here's the thing and one more question. Raise your hand if you wish you had a more time to talk to this person. Guys, be friends. Go have dinner after, you're welcome. Oh good, yay, yay, friendship. Friendship is great. All right, I'm gonna stop and think about these things, right? Because when we talk about our passions and our purpose and kind of this word and we're talking about discernment and I think that's a question, that's a thing that I went to school here and I think the word was used way too much, right? We don't have to discern every single thing but it's a thing of oftentimes and when we talk about the word discernment I'm just gonna go for Google on this because let's keep it simple, all right? The word discernment means the ability to judge well through obtaining spiritual guidance and understanding. So the ability to judge well through the guidance through spiritual guidance, right? And so what that means is typically, we understand this, that it's not, it's choosing two things that are good because hopefully, and again, I think we can over spiritualize things a little bit. It's like, oh, I don't know if to do this or this. Well, if this is a sin, the answer is no, right? Like, right? Like, start with rational thinking and you're gonna hear me say that a little bit as well because I think sometimes like, oh, this is such a complicated thing. If there's an evil or a good, we're always good. That's easy. The hard part is when it's two good things and then things get really complicated and the whole listening aspect, right? That's really difficult because it's not that easy to listen all the time because God isn't always super clear. I would like him to be, but he's not always super clear with me, right? And it's like, God, I wanna do your will and I will do it. You just gotta tell me with like a billboard and some flashing lights and make it real obvious, right? But he doesn't work that way, right? And so in order to talk about these things of passion and purpose and our desires, I'm gonna go super old school and this is gonna be one of the basic questions that anyone will ever ask you and probably one that you've heard since you were a child, right? And it's a very simple question. The question is, who are you? And this is something that, again, I mean, I talk to teenagers often and it's a very big question and I think for a very long time, I thought, oh, well, this topic of identity only works with like teenagers because that's when they don't know who they are and then you figure it out, but then I became an adult and I realized, oh, this question's for me too and this question's for my sisters and it questions for my mom and for my grandma and I'm seeing wounds and things from generation to generation that make it really hard to know what's the answer to this, right? Now, I don't wanna get our signals crossed here so let's make something very clear. Our identity must first and always be rooted in Christ, right? And so first and foremost, who are we? We belong to the Lord, right? We are his son, we are his daughter and that is the root of all our identity. And in fact, every time that I do the sign of the cross, I always, in my head, I say, I belong to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, right? That it connects me to my baptism, that it connects me to, like, from the moment that I was baptized, my parents said that before I was theirs, I belonged to the Lord. And so every time that I do the sign of the cross, it should be a reminder of that, that God, like, before anything happens, I first and foremost belong to you. And I was thinking about this thing of identity and kind of talking about passions and gifts and all these different topics. I was thinking, I was looking at scripture because obviously, hello, it's the best. Okay, great. And I was looking at different stories and I was thinking about, like, oh, the parable of the talents and all these different things. And then I got a different parable that came to mind and hopefully it makes sense because it made sense in my mind, right? And it's the parable of the sower. I'm gonna go ahead and read it and then we're gonna kind of dissect this a little bit. And this comes from Matthew 13. And it says, a sower went out to sow and he sowed some seeds fell, sorry, and as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they had not much soil and immediately they sprang up since they had no depth of soil. When the sun rose, they were scorched and since they had no root, they were there away. Other seeds fell upon thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain. Some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. He who has ears, let him hear. The word of the Lord, thanks be to God. So I was thinking about this and I was thinking, obviously, God talks about this and he says that the seeds are the word and that there's different terrains and all these different things, but when I was reading this in regard to our identity, I was thinking that God is the sower and the seeds are different aspects of who we are. It's gifts and different things that he wants to show us and he wants to tell us and he wants to explain to us and there was a question that I started asking when I went to school here and it was a very simple question is it was, God, how do you see me? God, how do you see me? And it took me years to answer this, but it's a thing of that, often times, I think that God is trying to tell me things and he's trying to show me things, but because of my brokenness, because of my past, because of the family I grew up in who are lovely but imperfect, right? Because of different wounds, because of different things, I have different terrains, right? Like I have areas that because of different woundedness he's trying to tell me he loves me and he's trying to tell me who I am and he's trying to tell me that I am good, but it's a rough area and it's not able to go into the soil and there are areas that I think I got it and I think I haven't figured out, but I'm surrounded by people that are also broken and I think I'm flourishing and then they start choking me and I feel like I'm losing the things that God is trying to do, right? And there are areas that it's not even able to enter because it's a do not enter area. I don't know about you, but there are certain aspects of my life that for a very long time, because of shame and because of different things, I have giant caution signs around. It's like, God, don't even try to mention this, right? Like, I know you know all, but let's pretend like you don't, right? And like, let's not go there. And then there's the beautiful parts that it's like, okay, God, I got it. I know that I am yours. I got it. And the sad part is that in different times of my life, I've been all of it, right? That there are times that I got it and there are times that I'm choked and there are times that I'm like, do not enter and there are times whatever. And you know what the really frustrating part is? And then I start all over again. Oh, it's like, I think I thought I had it, you know? I've been in therapy for many years. Like, yeah, I got it. And then something else happens. Next layer, right? It's like, we have to go in parts. And this thing of God is trying to show us who we are and he's trying to love us and he's trying to tell us, these are your gifts and these are your talents and these are the things that I'm trying to show you. So like, how can the Lord put these things together and how can the Lord restore? And a part of that is recognizing that he is the sower and we're not and that he's trying to give us the answers and he's trying to speak to us and he's trying to help us grow and he's trying, I mean, not only does he give us the seeds, he gives us the like, I'm not a planter person, but fertilizer, right? I have a whore, I mean, I have a gift of killing plants, but like, he gives us the sunlight and he gives us the water and he gives us the nourishments to help that seed grow. But if we don't see that he's trying to give it to us, it's not gonna go far, right? And so in this process, I want you guys to start thinking of this question and it's a basic question, but like, what are your gifts? What are your gifts? What are the things that you're passionate about? What are the things that you get really excited about from silly things? And if you've ever heard me talk, there's one topic that I will somehow, because God is funny, somehow bring up in every single one of my talks and that's the topic of food, because I swear it's like, it is my love language. And look, I just think it's the absolute best. Thank you, Lord, right? I once had an adoration, this is a sad story, but someone told me, one of my priest friends was like, if you ever distracted in prayer, just bring your distractions to the Lord. I was like, all right, I was really hungry that day. I had a full hour adoration meditating upon food and that sounds, I know it sounds funny, I know, but I literally was like, the body is so cool, Lord, and you're so brilliant and like, the digestive system is so epic and the way that all the nutrients work and God, you didn't have to give us taste buds. Like God loves us so much that he gave us taste buds and then I started thinking about all the different countries and all the different herbs and the spices and I, I deep dived, I deep dived, right? But it's this thing of like, this sounds silly, but one of my passions is food and one of my passions is cooking and one of my real good passions is eating, right? So like, since it could be something city like that, but also something, there's deeper things, right? Like I'm a huge advocate for mental health and I will go really deep on that and I've served a lot of teens and a lot of people and I've got to walk with people through attempted suicides and a lot of different things and it's a topic that I really believe that all of us can benefit from counseling and Jesus, right? That they're not opposed, right? That we can grow together and so these are things that I'm passionate about and for years I thought my passions were something that like, oh well God doesn't want to use that, that's just something separate, right? And I realized this, I had a conversion and you'll hear about this tomorrow, but when I first learned about Franciscan, I didn't even know it existed. I was at another school and I was like, oh, I have one semester, I'll just take fun courses, right? And all my fun courses were psychology courses and I was like, oh, okay, mind you, I started studying communications and public relations but I was like, psychology sounds fun and then I was like, oh wait, I really love these courses, oh wait, God, are you trying? Should I study psychology, right? Like, it seems like God was working through my desires and my passions and sometimes again, we're like, oh, what do you want and what brings you joy? Like, what do you love and that question of like, what do you desire, right? Like, what do you desire? And if you, there's a scripture verse that is always used when talking about desire, right? Does anyone wanna guess what it is? The Lord will grant you the desires of your heart, right? And that, for someone that has had a lot of desires that aren't fulfilled, sometimes is annoying, right? But it's because I only hear the second part of the quote and so I wanna focus a little bit on the first part because there's something very thing and oftentimes this question of like, what do you desire and what do you want, right? It can be very complicated. I don't know if you guys have seen the notebook, if you haven't, you know, it's not a morally great movie, but it's a great movie. You're like cheering, you're like, wait, no, this person's in a relationship, why am I cheering for them? All right, but it's this thing of like, what do you want? And it's like, it's not that simple and I think God is like, what do you want, what do you want? And we're like, oh, and we just over complicated, way too much, right? When I taught theology, I taught morality and sacraments, I would always ask these like questions and my students would be like, Jesus, Jesus is the answer and I would roll my eyes and I'm like, I mean, yes, but no, right? But really the answer of what we want and what we desire needs to first be the Lord. That we need to first be aimed at God, you are what I desire and you are what I want. And the first part of this quote in Psalm 37 is very important. And Psalm 37 says, delight yourself in the? Lord. In who? The Lord. We need to delight ourselves in the Lord. If we don't delight ourselves in the Lord, then we're gonna have disordered desires. That we need to first build our relationship with God and he will grant you the desires of our heart. But at that point, if I'm delighting myself in the Lord, then what I desire, guess what? Is what he desires. And then we're talking, now we're in business, right? But so many times it's like, no, I wanna do my own thing and I wanna figure it out and if your desires, right? Because Satan knows us. Did you know that? One of my favorite books in high school, Screwtape Letters. I know, sounds weird. But, and this was like before my big conversion, but I was like, this book is epic. Two, it's about two demons, a bigger demon training a little demon about how to destroy us. It's essentially what it is, right? But it's brilliant because you're reading it and it's like, dang, he's so sneaky, but he's so smart, right? He's cunning as it says in the scripture and he really is. He knows you, he knows your flaws and he also knows your desires. And he also knows your passions, right? And so very often we need to be careful because he can grab what is good and twist it. We see this in the world, right? We see that we all desire to be known to be loved, to be seen. Like, looking at sexual desires, that's a good thing, but there's been so much twisting of it, right? Then now we're in a different category and that's disordered, right? And so how can we allow ourselves to really focus on God? Like, let me recognize my desires and let me make sure that they're oriented towards you. And this answer is gonna be one that you're gonna probably look at me and just roar your eyes and be like, well, duh, right? Because it is a very simple answer and that answer is prayer. It all comes down to that. Because if God is, if we're, how do I explain this? You can't delight yourself in someone you don't know, right? You can't, it's not possible. And when we talk about prayer, I'm not saying just our Hail Marys and our Fathers. Don't get me wrong, those are very beautiful and please don't misunderstand me, those are great prayers, right? But we need to understand that the root of everything is a relationship and the root of any conversation in the Catechism talks about how prayer is a surge of the heart, right? Embracing both trials and joy, that it's a lifting up of our hearts and that needs to first go by just talking to Jesus, right? I often talk about my God daughter the other day, she's 10 years old. And I often talk about that the other day I was like, okay, Eva, like, we're gonna pray and she's like, okay, all right. And then she starts, she closes her eyes. She's like, our Father, who are in heaven. I'm like, yeah, Eva, it's a beautiful prayer. We finished it. And then I was like, let's just talk to Jesus. And she looked at me like, what do you mean? I was like, well, do you know how I pray? And she's like, no, it's like, hey Jesus, what's up? And then she laughed at me. And I was like, listen, if anyone, my best friend's probably the only person that has ever actually heard just how ridiculous I am in prayer, like, my conversations with Jesus are kind of insane because I am 100% myself and I can be ridiculous and I can laugh and I can get distracted and just be because I wanna first be friends with Jesus. And if I'm friends with Jesus, then I'm gonna be ridiculous with him. And I'm gonna, when I'm angry, he's gonna know it. And when I'm happy, he's gonna know it. And when I'm, whatever, he's gonna know it because he's God, like, why am I gonna try to hide it from him, right? And so it needs to start with prayer because when we talk to Jesus, then he can orient us towards the good. And he can tell us, like, this is what I've created for and this is what I want you to know. And when we spend time with Jesus, we can know truth, right? And this seems like another thing that I learned in my time here, right? Satan is the father of? Yeah, Satan is the father of lies and he's really good at it. And he knows the lies that we believe about ourselves. And he'll feed it to us, right? You're not good enough. You're never gonna mount anything. You don't have talent. God can't use that. God can't do this. God can't do that. And we see it even with our younger generation. I remember for career day, I had someone come in, oh, I was so upset. This is my first year teaching, okay? And it was career day and he was like an accountant or something like that. And he was talking about his job and honestly, he sounded miserable talking about his job. It was like, this is rough, right? And then he was like, and then he told my kids. He was like, and this is why you need to be practical. And so if you wanna be an artist, like forget about that. And if you wanna dance, like forget about that because that doesn't give you money. And I'm like, hmm, listen, I'm sitting in the corner and I'm like, I'm about to punch this man in the face. Sorry, I get a little aggressive sometimes. All right. But it's this thing that at one point it was like, oh, do you have any questions? And I rose my hand and I was like, I have a question. So you keep talking about all the things that you do with your money on the weekends. Like, do you actually like your job? Are you happy? And he looked at me and he said, I like what I do with the money I get from my job on the weekends. And then I looked at him and I said, so no. Okay, cool. And then my whole class was just like, oh dang, right? But it's this thing, right, that we think that God can't use our, the things that seem silly God wants to use because they're mattered to you and because he placed it in your heart, right? And it's not silly. And so for, yeah, I'm gonna tell my students that to be practical, yeah, sure. But that doesn't mean give up on everything, right? And then we need art and we need beauty and we need goodness. And if we don't know how to recognize our, so first, first step, we need to recognize our gifts, right? We need to recognize our gifts and we need to claim them because Satan wants to say, or the world wants to say, or your mother or siblings want to say, right? Or your children want to say because sometimes me and my sisters, haven't always been the most loving to our mother and we think that it's a joke and then I realize my mom's actually sensitive and things that I say matter, right? And so we need to be able to edify each other. So first, like recognize our gifts and then say, okay, God, I claim the truth that I am these things. And I also wanna claim the gifts that you have given me and I wanna use them for your glory. Deacon mentioned this yesterday. I thought it was so beautiful. It was so simple. He was just like, worship is a response. That was so simple, right? Worship is a response. He was talking about singing, but I was thinking if I know my gifts and I use them, that's my response. And so then my gifts can be a form of worship and that's awesome, right? And when you know these things, you become the most alive and you can use them. The Lord is funny and the way I got to speaking is just funny because he's ridiculously creative, right? But it took me a while to realize this, but when I'm speaking, there's a joy in me. Like I get excited. I'm gonna be honest about something. Minutes before this talk, I was telling my best friend that I wanted to run and not do this talk, okay? I've had a rough week. I didn't really wanna be here and I was just like, oh, when I'm up here, I know God's doing it. And not only is God working through me and not only is God speaking for me, but he's speaking to me and he knows that I'm stubborn and sometimes he needs me to say the words so I can listen to myself, right? Yeah, yeah. So when you know your gifts and when you can use them, you come alive. You come alive. And we wanna cling that. And just to clarify, if I were to stop speaking, God would still use me and I would still be fulfilled because we are not in what we do. And that's a big thing as well, right? So yes, I want you to use your gifts and recognize them, but also recognize that there are so many more gifts than just the obvious ones, right? So there's like different levels of different things and this is all a part of doing and following God's will, right? Because this topic of God's will is, it's a complicated one. It's a complicated one because he's God and then we're not. And you know, Jeremiah 2,911, for I know the plans I have for you says the Lord and it's like, great, tell me, right? But it's not that obvious sometimes. So how do we know God's will? The first step is just grace builds upon nature. And what I mean by that is he's gonna start with what is obvious. First obvious thing, and I said it before, if it's a bad thing or it leads you to sin, that's not it. That's not what God wants for your life. So that's option number one. Number two, in recognizing your gifts and passions, the Lord can use them to do his will. He can, not always, but he can use them to do his will, right? And then we wanna just start with basic things. And when we talk about gifts, this is what I was gonna talk about. There are natural gifts and supernatural, right? So natural ones, if you sing really well, if you're really athletic, if you are a great cook, if you are really good and have, you're like a sommelier because you have those taste buds that you can like smell something and be like, this has a note of whatever, like, I don't know, okay? Whatever your gifts are, that's like natural. And then there's one that's a little bit harder to find. And that's those spiritual gifts. And yes, this Bible gives us gifts and fruits and we will talk about that. But it also says that the gifts are endless. And it says that there's so much more than what we mentioned here. And so things like you being compassionate or you having empathetic heart or you being able to communicate, you being able to listen, you being able to be present. Like there are so many things that I think we've overpassed, like if it's nothing and they're actually really good. Do you know what I'm saying? And if you're here, and I want you guys to think about this right now, and I'm gonna give you guys a minute to just make a list if you have paper and pen and if not, you know, take out your phone and write it or put a mental note. What are your gifts? And I'm gonna give you guys a minute to actually write them down. And I hope you can think about at least five. So what are your gifts? Go ahead and make a list of them. Thumbs up if we're good. If you're here because I asked this to the other day, to a bunch of adults, and there were multiple people that were like, I have no idea. Right? And there was a man actually, he must have been like in his 60s or 70s. And he's like, I don't know. And then I was like, well, are you married? And he's like, yeah, go ask your wife. And then I was like, and if your wife doesn't know, get a new wife now, I was kidding. But a big part of being in good relationship with people is that the people you surround yourself with should be able to say your gifts. So if you don't know, I hope you do know first of all, I really hope you know. But let's say you listed five. I want you to ask your spouse or your best friend what your gifts are. And they should be able to tell you. And if not, let's work on that, right? And can you say their gifts? Because if you can't, then I don't think we're doing a good enough job of seeing God and others, right? Like I think we should be better at recognizing how the Lord is working in our own hearts and then helping others see how the Lord is working in theirs, right? And to be able to do that. And how can we do this? Grace builds on nature. So start with obvious things, but then it's gonna go higher to just asking God. This is one of my favorite prayers. You'll hear me talk about this tomorrow, this prayer I say it every day of my life. It's just come Holy Spirit. And through the guidance of the Holy Spirit to be able to say, okay God, what are the things that I'm created for? What are you calling me to? And how can I take action to this? And I was talking to a friend of mine and she was saying, she's like, some people have really beautiful voices and that's great. And you can hit all the right tone and you can do all the right things, but if you're not using it in the right way and if you're using it to tear people down, it's gonna sound horrible, right? And there's a scripture verse that I'm gonna be honest for the longest time. I could not even, I mean, it's read so much in weddings that I like roll my eyes a little bit at it. The first line, it says, if I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. If your gifts aren't oriented towards the Lord and if your gifts don't involve the Lord and if they're not guided by Jesus and if they're not edifying others and we're not loving each other well as the body of Christ, you're just a gong. And I don't want you to be that because guess what? God didn't create you to be that. God created you to be beautiful and good and to bring out the best in yourself first and in others. And it's in recognizing God, like this is how you created me and these are the things that I am, these are who I am, then I can go forward. And I think sometimes, and we do this as adults and we do this, I saw this a lot in my years of learning and stuff, we over complicate things and we hear things and it's like, oh, well this must be discernment of spirits of X, Y, Z or we start throwing in like super theological terms or we think that every little thing is Satan, you know what I mean? And it's not always Satan, sometimes it's just a traffic light, you know what I mean? Like, come on, man. I remember one day someone was like, they were over spiritualizing to like a high level and he was like, no, it wasn't this, it's because Satan or I was like, actually it's just because you didn't do your work. Like, we can't get to this extreme, right? We wanna be able to just be guided through the eyes and lens of the Lord. That's what discernment is, right? To be able to see things as the Lord sees it and to be able to know, okay, God, this is what you're calling me to and I'm gonna first and foremost do this through love. And if you think that God is calling you to be mean to someone or to be prejudiced towards someone or to reject someone or to bring division to someone, even within the church, that's not God. Because our God is a one of unity and one of love and one of goodness. And if we have that holier than thou mentality, that's not it, it's not it, right? And so come Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit who is the one of unity, the Holy Spirit who on Pentecost, right, brought us all together and then we can dive into these gifts. And I'm gonna be honest, I look at these gifts and fruits, right? Lianne Bowen, I forgot to add her, but this is her artwork, I just wanna make that very clear, right? We have the gifts and fruits. And oftentimes we only think about these things when we're like the sacraments. Confirmation, right? And it's like, kids, what are the gifts and fruits? And they say them, but I don't think they know what it means and I don't think they understand what they have and I don't think they understand a big picture. But in looking at the gifts and fruits that the fruits come from a life with God. Fruits come from a life with God. That because we know the Lord and because we're living with Him and walking with Him, we have joy and peace and charity and kindness and patience and goodness and faithfulness and self-control and gentleness. Because I know Jesus, I'm able to have a life like that. Because I know the Lord. Because I know the Lord and He tells me who I am. Because I know the Lord and He is the one that's guiding my passions. Because I know the Lord and He's the one guiding my decisions, I'm able to have that lifestyle. Does that mean you're never gonna suffer? No, no you will. But it means that even amidst the suffering and amidst the things, like God is with us, amen? And then looking at the gifts, piety and wisdom and fortitude and understanding and fear of the Lord and knowledge and counsel and modesty and chastity and all these things and to know that there's still more to go. And the Lord wants all these things for us. But guess what? My gifts are different than your gifts and your gifts are different than hers and the people that you know, I don't know and the things that God wants to do through you, He can do through me because we're different people and we live in different parts of the world and I don't work where you work and I'm not in your family, right? And so the Lord wants to work through all of us but we first need to be able to listen to what He's saying, to listen to Him and to know that if God is calling us to do something, He's gonna first equip us and He's gonna orient our desires, right? For a very long time when I first got into my faith I was absolutely petrified of becoming a nun. When I was little, okay, when I was little I would have priests and nuns at my house all the time and they would tell me, they would look at me like, oh, Marty, you're so cute. When you grow up, you're gonna make such a beautiful nun and I would run upstairs, I would close my door, I would kneel down and I would look up at Jesus and I would say, Jesus, I love you and I will do whatever you want with me but don't make me a nun, right? Like, this is 10 year old Marty, right? And then I got into my faith and the God is so good and one of the first things I had to do was think about becoming a nun because if I'm serious about my faith and this goes for anyone, if anyone's serious about your faith you should really take a time for discernment of like, am I called, what did I call to, right? Men and women, like, what do we call to? And that was a big thing and I thought for a while I was like, okay, I had to, I was like preparing myself, like, all right, so I'm gonna be a sister and I'm gonna have it to give up everything and it's gonna be fine and I'm gonna be miserable and I'm like, I'm thinking, this is me thinking early on, early on and then someone looked at me and they're like, what kind of God do you think you serve? And I was like, what? You think God's gonna call you to do something that makes you absolutely miserable? And I was like, oh, yeah, no, that doesn't make sense at all, actually, right? And then once I knew that, I was able to property discern and I love sisters. I have beautiful nuns that are my incredible friends that I'm so incredibly grateful for. Some of them are in this room and I'm so grateful for them. And I properly discerned if God wanted me to do that but I told Jesus, God, if you want me to be a nun you're gonna orient my desires and you're gonna make me want it and be excited about it and do it or if not, you're gonna help me equip myself, right? Because Moses was chosen, but Moses couldn't speak but then God sent him Aaron, right? And he got his bases covered, right? And so we need to be able to say, okay, God, if I am with you and you're with me and we're communicating and my heart is in your heart, then orient my desires and you will call me and work through my desires. He's not gonna call you to do something that's gonna make you miserable. That would be a very mean God, right? That would be a very mean God. And so Lord, how can you speak and to know that he speaks in a still small voice? Sometimes it's a billboard. And sometimes it's a very loud, clear statement. When I was becoming a teacher, I was like, Lord, should I be a teacher? I opened up St. Faustina's Diary and it said, go and teach in my name. And I was like, got you. All right, right? Sometimes it's very clear. And sometimes you're praying for the same thing for years and years and you're gonna nuttin', right? I have no idea what you want from me, Jesus. And sometimes he speaks through other people and sometimes it's through scripture. Please read scripture. The whole book is talking to you, literally. It's really good stuff. It's also super dramatic and very intense. But awesome, okay? Read scripture. And sometimes it's through music and sometimes it's through your desires because if you are with him, he's gonna work through that, amen? And so, yes, there will be obstacles. Like, yeah, there's gonna be obstacles. There's gonna be things that are gonna be challenging and you'll hear more about my story tomorrow, but life with God is, John Paul II says, life with Christ is a wonderful adventure and it is. It has a lot of highs and lows and times when you're like, woohoo, Jesus and times when you're hiding from Jesus and times when you wanna run away and times when you're like, woohoo, right? It's a roller coaster. And I wouldn't have it any other way, right? And to know that sometimes you have moments that you're using your gifts and you're so excited and you're doing these things and sometimes you're just at home and you're on the couch and your kids are gone and you're retired and life looks different. And you wonder, what do you wanna do now, Lord? And God's still looking at you and he's trying to plant more seeds and he's trying to remind you who you are. He's trying to remind you that you're still his and you're still loved and you're still seen and you're still known and your gifts are still there and your passions are still there and maybe they're gonna look a little different but they're still there and God still wants to work through you and he still wants to change lives through you and he still wants to change lives first with you and he still wants to heal And he still wants to restore. And he still wants to work in your family. Amen? Amen. No matter what your stage is, no matter where you are, whether you're here and you've been with Jesus the whole time or you left for a while and you're coming back, God is madly in love with you. And he wants to show you and remind you who you are. I started praying years ago, God, how do you see me? I was in a household here. And it was this big thing going around my household. I asked Jesus, how He sees you. And I was like, oh, this is weird. This is very weird. And my friends were like, I'm a cupcake. And I'm a daisy. And I was like, and it sounded silly. It sounded silly. And yet, their description about it was not silly at all. And the Lord was pursuing each of their hearts individually through these random examples and metaphors. And then I was reminded of something that God pursues our heart constantly in different ways. And the way He pursues your heart is different than the way He pursues mine. And the things that you love are different than the things that I love. So I feel really loved through food. And maybe you feel really loved through, I don't know, waterfalls. I love waterfalls too, though. My three things are fire, waterfalls, and food. But maybe if you're really loved through carpentry or something, I don't know. Whatever it is, the Lord is pursuing your heart. And I remember we were doing a silent retreat. And it was in Stubenville, 50 girls who talk way too much in a house in a silent retreat was very entertaining. And I remember being on the ground. And the whole day, I had this random song in my head. And it was like, you are beautiful, my sweet, sweet song. And I was like, that is a random song. I haven't heard a song in years. Lord, this is so weird. And I remember I was prostrate on the ground. Our brothers were doing music and praying in worship. And I felt they were singing another song. And the Lord just put on my heart, like, you are beautiful, my sweet, sweet song. And I was like, Jesus, why is this in my head? I'm trying to focus here. And he's like, Marty, you are beautiful, my sweet, sweet song. And I was like, wait, am I your song? That's so cute, Lord, right? And I started going through this whole thing of, he started saying to me, you have all these different instruments and all these different keys and all these different things. And I want to be your composer. And if you allow me to be your composer, we can make beautiful music together. Now, was that, I mean, I really do believe that that was the Lord speaking. Why? Because it was a super random thought. So how do you know God is knowing, speaking? One, a really random thought that you're like, what? Two, it brings you peace. Brings you peace. Three, it makes sense. And four, there's follow through. That theme of the Lord seeing me as a song was years ago. And I never really share this part. This is the first time I've ever said it in a talk, actually. But it's this thing of, ask God how he sees you. And be bold to ask for specifics, even if it's something silly like a cupcake or a daisy, that the Lord wants to remind you, this is obviously a metaphor. And I'm way more than a song. But it's a thing of the Lord was pursuing my heart. And he wants to pursue yours. And then when we can know our gifts and we can know what we're doing and what we're called to, then we can really build up the body of Christ. Amen? I'm going to probably say this tomorrow. But I want you guys to understand something. The church is made up of mostly the laity. Do you guys know that? Do you know the percentage of the church that's the laity? What is it? Give me a number. 99%. 99%. I mean, look at the room. Any priest? We got one. Any other priests? Religious? We got four? OK, great. OK, look around. Bout accurate, right? 99%. Why am I saying this? Because we're way to rely on priests and religious. I wish the church did this. Great, you're the church. Do it. Like, you have gifts. And God wants to use you and work through you and edify each other through you. You can be an instrument of building up this beautiful church that we belong to. That we can know, like, right before talking about the body of Christ, it talks about gifts. And it talks about the variety of gifts and the different things and all the things like, ah, sorry. But ladies and gentlemen, the bottom line of this talk is this, you're created with a purpose. You're created with a purpose. You're created good. You are loved and seen by the Lord. God has equipped you to make decisions in this world. He's equipped you to make decisions in this world. And we can't be so over and on analyzing everything that we're praying for God to just show me exactly what I want. We need to take action. We need to take action. And if we're making those steps, those small steps with the Lord, he'll tell you if you're going the right way or not. And sometimes he'll give you big, giant detour steps. And if we're praying well, and if we're talking to him well, then we can see the detours. And we can know that he's telling us, like, eh, eh, turn around. And then we can know where to go and how to move forward. And then we can discern his will, because his will will be our will, because his heart will be in my heart. And my heart will be in his heart. And my desires will be his and vice versa. And then we can make all the decisions we want. And we can know our purpose. And we can take action. And we can make this world better, because, wow, it's not that great sometimes. And God wants to first do that in you. He loves you. And he's given you gifts. And he wants to celebrate in your passions and the things that excite to you. And then he wants to work in you and work through you and work for you. Amen? Can we all stand and pray together? Let's begin. We belong to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit. God, you're so good. You're so faithful. Thank you for creating us good. Thank you for creating us with a desire for you that only you can fill. Thank you for the gifts that you have given us. God would give you permission to enter into our hearts and into our minds so that we can know what these gifts are, so that we can know our passions, so that we can foster them. Help us to orient our desires with yours. Unite our hearts to yours. God, help us to see the massive ways that you have already worked in our lives. And help us to know that you are not done yet. Help us to make our gifts and the way that we live our lives a form of worship because it will be a response to the gifts that you have given us. Jesus, we praise you. Jesus, we need you. Jesus, we love you. Jesus, I give my heart to you. Let's say that together. Jesus, I give my heart to you. Jesus, I trust you. I am yours. I am yours. And you are mine. And you are mine. Amen. Amen. Amen to the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Thank you all so much, Pring, for all of you.