 I don't know what kind of sense of humor you have, but I'm gonna find out. So, I'm a convert. Is there anybody here that's a convert? A couple of you. A lot of people wanna know why I converted to Catholicism, and I just am honest, and I say, so I could drink, smoke, and swear. So, I'm crushing it, you guys. Crushing it. So I am, I'm married. I married my high school sweetheart. We've been married for over 30 years, and, you know, I've been married a long time. Some of you are deacons. You've been married some of you a long time. I've been married so long I can sit in the same room with my wife and not say a word, and still know I've done something wrong. Some of you know. Anyway, the long and the short of it is, I love being married, and I'm happy. I'm happy that we made that conversion in Easter of 1999, and the truth is, while I certainly have a lot of things I'm so grateful for, I'm passionate about when it comes to being Catholic, I always tell people, though, I am raising my kids to be cradle Catholics. Like, I want them from the beginning to the middle to the end to see what this is all about, and it's been an amazing joy for me to watch my children grow into adulthood, and some seriously consider and discerning even religious life. We'll see what God has in store for them, but I'm grateful that there is an openness. The other day, one of my sons came up and he said to my wife that he was thinking it might be a little bit better for him to do religious life in an order because he's concerned that diocesan life could be a little too lonely. Oh, I wanna talk about that for a second if that's okay. Some of my closest friends are priests, and the truth of the matter is, Father Dave said something in the beginning of our conference that I wanna go back to, and he gave you an image of someone walking in the desert who was exhausted and feeling that intensity of the heat beating down upon him and that desperation to be refreshed, and even some of you today just acknowledge the reason that you came is that you wanted something more. This is that night, amen? Now look at me, this is very important. The truth is, is that God is not gonna manipulate and force or coerce any of you to go deeper into that intimacy with him, but he is the oasis that you long for. He is that sweet drink that will truly quench and satisfy you, and the reality, I think whether you're religious or lady is that we so often look for wants to satisfy our needs, but it never does that. We will never find an ability to satisfy the deep core of who we are by playing in the pool of wants. We were all made for something that very famous Augustinian quote that our hearts are restless until they rest in you, and the truth is is that we, many of us spend our days preaching and telling people what they're looking for is Jesus, and yet so often we spend our life in that eridity, in that dryness, because we have forgotten something, and I'm gonna get to that, and it's really important. See, the truth is that we have, according to scripture, been given everything that we need for life and godliness in Christ. In fact, St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians and said, you have been past tense, blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. How many blessings? Every spiritual blessing in Christ. When St. Paul was writing to the Corinthian church, he basically tells them that you've been given all of the gifts, and I feel like though, many of us go through our life starving to death, and what I see as I travel doing ministry all over the world is two extremes. One is a spiritual eridity where people are emaciated, and the other is a spiritual gluttony where they can barely move, and they think that the culmination of the spiritual life is to accrue more and more bits of information. The truth of the matter is though, we are to be about work. There is something about what we are invited into which causes and invites us to go and to preach the gospel. I am not a priest, although I was baptized priest, prophet, and king. I am not a deacon, I have discerned that, and basically my priest, when he realized I was discerning deaconate, he looked at me and said, I'm still trying to get my head around the idea that you would do a seven or nine minute homily. I said, I'm not even going to be doing my jokes then. What are you talking about? Seven or nine minutes, I don't know what. We're not doing that game, and so I'm not in the deaconate. And so I'm not in the deaconate program, so anyway. But I'm happily married, and I love being married. And the truth of the matter is, my children are potentially discerning religious life. Now I had a whole series of jokes that I did, and I was invited by my diocese to go for the gathering of people discerning religious life. And I made this litany, basically how to tell if you're called to the priesthood or marriage. And one example would be, if you have no athletic abilities, you're obviously called to be a priest. If you feel like you need someone to do your laundry, you're called to be married. So, I just had like a dozen of them or more. The bishop thought I was hilarious, and the truth of the matter is, I look at my sons, and I think to myself, it's gonna be hard if you choose this vocation, you will be misunderstood, you will feel lonely, even if you're in community at times, and you will be asked to do things that seem impossible. You will be micromanaged by your parishioners. You will be absolutely misunderstood by everybody with the best intentions. You will feel like your calling isn't really a calling, but a curse. And I have been feeling, and I hesitate to say this, but I feel like there might be somebody in this room who's been wondering if you should be a priest at all. And maybe this was your last ditch effort, a desperation. So, I wanna have you close your eyes real quick as we get ready to begin. And I don't want you to look around, but I'm gonna ask you to do something that's very important. What miracle do you want Jesus to do in your life tonight? That's the question. What miracle do you want Jesus to do in your life? For some of you, it might be as simple as, I need to hear God speak to me, that he has not left me. I need to know that he still has called me. I need him in my life to free me from these sins. I need Jesus to speak to me. What is that prayer? I want you to think about that and sit with that for a second. The truth of the matter is I can't relate to what it looks like to be in your shoes, those of you that are priests. But I do know how much I love you. And the truth is you have been in my life in so many of the most critical moments, important moments, valued moments of my life and how many countless souls have already been impacted by you, those who have said yes to this type of life. So Lord, we give you permission to bless us once again, to speak health and life into us once again, to bring your spirit into us, invigorate and empower us. And by your grace, Lord, we will not quench that spirit. We will allow you to have free reign in us. Father, some holy spirit, amen. All right, look it, look it, look it, look it, look it. All right, here's the truth, here's the truth. You ready? We're gonna dive right in. I have so many things I wanna talk about. I'm gonna ask a simple question. How many of you want your ministry to be effective and productive? Yes or yes? All right, the truth that matters, I'm gonna give you a secret from our very first pope. This comes from Second Peter. In the very beginning of Second Peter, he says something so amazing and so profound. Ultimately, what he does initially is he starts to go through what are called, obviously, the theological and the cardinal virtues. It's all right here in the beginning. Here's what he says. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. How many things? All things that pertain to life and godliness. Through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises. Okay, so he's giving us all of these things. That through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion and become partakers of the divine nature. Okay, this is a really big deal. Now we jump into this virtue kind of list. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge. Knowledge would be what, right? Prudence and knowledge with self-control. That's what? Temperance and self-control with steadfastness. What's that? Fortitude, there we go. And steadfastness with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection. That's justice to give to God and to man that which there do. And brotherly affection with love. So we have faith right there in the beginning. This idea of hope and love and watch this. For if these things are yours and abound, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So if you wanna be fruitful and effective in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you must be growing in virtue. And why are we wanting to grow in virtue? Because we're invited into the divine life. Now this is where it gets pretty amazing because he says, for whoever lacks these things is blind and short-sighted, is blind and short-sighted. So if you've ever struggled with virtue or speaking, then the truth is, it's possible that you are feeling that blindness or that short-sightedness. So what's the solution? Here's what he said. The reason that you're blind and short-sighted is because that you've forgotten that you were cleansed from your old sins. Okay, I'm gonna say this again. For whoever lacks these things is blind and short-sighted and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Blind, short-sighted, and forgotten that you've been cleansed from your old sins. Look it, look it, look it, look it, look it. Blind and short-sighted because you have forgotten, right, those past sins have been forgiven. St. Paul said to the Corinthian church, I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Here is the simple truth of the matter. Jesus Christ, his love is greater than our sin, yes? His love is greater than our circumstances, yes. And his love is greater than any attack that Satan and his minions can give to us. See, the reality is, is that right now you have been given everything in Christ that you need to be effective and to be productive. All things are yours, right? Every spiritual glad. And the reality is, is that you have been past tense blessed in the heavenly realms. But the thing about it is that we struggle so often because we are trying to almost prove that we're worthy of the call instead of moving from the call that we've been given. So what do you want God to do in your life? Well, I want miracles. I want him to do the work. I don't want it to be me, but it's hard. The other day, my wife and I came home from some trips and we're getting around, I'm gonna take her out. We're gonna go party. But party means we're probably gonna go to Walmart and get some milk. But in the early days when you're gonna date, you take and you have all these elaborate, extravagant things. You wanna go out on these romantic dates. I'm gonna go to a restaurant, get a fine meal and then afterwards go to a movie and then maybe we're gonna go to a club, some dancing. Maybe you get some drinks, like we're gonna live it up. No time limits, we're just gonna be together. That's so awesome in the early years and then you get married. Like, let's do it, let's go out. We're gonna have an amazing, romantic, intimate time together. Let's get a fine meal, we're gonna go to a movie. Maybe some drinks, some dancing, whatever, let's do it. No time limits, we're adults, let's do this. In the middle of the meal, like we look at each other for a little trepidation and we're like, I'm a little sleepy for the movie and honestly, let's just go home and we'll watch TV because that's what we do, that's our date night. The truth is that for you in the beginning of your priesthood, you were so excited. How many blessings can you do? Like, let's bless your house. Let's bless your motorcycle, bring your cat, I don't care. We're gonna bless it all. This is a true story from a priest's friend of mine. He goes, I was asked to come do a house blessing and I went to the house and this lady showed up and she has like this robe on and it was really kind of weird and she's like, where's father so-and-so? And he's like, well, he's not here. I'm just here to do the blessing for you. She's like, okay. So he goes in, starts doing the blessing around the house. She doesn't follow him around, doesn't do anything. And he's like, do you want me to go up and bless upstairs? Yeah, you can do that. She doesn't follow. He goes upstairs, does the blessing and then he comes down, she's naked on the couch. It's what she says. She says, it must be lonely being a priest. And he's like, I ran out of that, out of that, out of that house. And then I told that to two priests in North Dakota, they're like, that never happens to us. So funny. Recently I was in the Nebraska area doing some ministry stuff and there's a priest there that I just kind of fell in love with. I just thought we have so many things to talk about and he'd live in the life out there. During COVID he decided we're gonna do something for our parish. So he literally set together like this huge, gigantic kind of trailer and then basically out in a baseball field, he had parishioners bring their chairs and just sit like 10 feet away from each other and all that stuff. And we put on like a little presentation, a little mission. And it was so funny when Ricky Vasquez started singing, all the cows came from the pastor over to listen to him. It was so redneck, it was insane. But the other day I was sitting and I wanted to reach out to him and we were just kind of, sometimes we'll send books, I do love my books and I sent him a note and I asked him, I said, hey, what can I pray for? How can we pray for you? And Father Kiter is his name, I don't know if I should have told you that, but he basically spends a lot of time ministering in his parish area and this is what he said. He goes, please pray for me in my new assignment. I'm staying where I am at, but they're adding five more parishes. So I'm going from seven to 12. God has a plan, I hope it includes a helicopter. So the other day I'm coming home and I see my wife, let's go out to dinner. I'm tired, I haven't seen my wife in a little while, I thought let's just go out together, we'll give this little restaurant nearby and as we're driving, I think maybe we should ask Father, this priest has been very close to us in that area. Part of the reason we moved to Syracuse, let's let's call this priest. And I'm thinking, part of me wants to just hang out with you, but maybe we should do that. So we called this priest friend and we had a couple of our kids and we ended up going to this little pizza wings place. He came in, he was insane, it was hilarious. We were just having a blast talking, he's been going through a lot and he texted about a day or two later and he said to my wife and I, he said basically, you will never know how much I needed that, you'll just never know. Because the truth of the matter is that priest and most of the priests that were close friends, they get to just be, they're not on, they get to just be. They get to unload, they can wear whatever they want, they can have some drinks together, we laugh, we talk about life and then he leaves and as reminded, I'm so glad I'm not married, right? Because our kids are crawling all over him. Forgotten that we've been cleansed from our past sins. See, this is really the ultimate message today. We talk about the salvific mission. You are awesome in your willingness to continue to bring Jesus to each and every one of us, the representation of that once for all sacrifice. And ultimately, I'm gonna say something to you that's very important, evangelization, ministry, catechesis, you name it, it is all grounded in the reality of Jesus's death, burial and resurrection. It is grounded in this intimacy with a God that radically loves us even in our mess, radically loves us and invites us into a life that is absolute, entire and total gift. Even when it feels we have nothing to give. And so I'm gonna give to you an example of first making an observation and then giving a practical example of five primary points that I see when it comes to our lady and her receptivity with the Holy Spirit. And ultimately, what I want you to know is this is certainly not exhaustive nor is this necessarily meant to be a huge, deep theological discourse. This is meant to be more of a prayerful, discerning, just kind of personal application so that you can see in your own life, what it looks like to say yes to the work of the spirit in a Marian capacity. And this is very important because each and every one of you to be the saints that you're called to be must be Marian. To be the saint that you're called to be you must have a Marian reality, dimension if you will. You must have a Marian charism even because each and every one of us are called to be completely and entirely receptive. She is the icon of the church and we, each of us must have a devotion to our lady if we expect to go deeper in our intimacy with Jesus because at the end of the day we cannot give what we don't have. And the last thing most parishioners are looking for is a deep theological discourse. What they want to know is Jesus present when my marriage is falling apart. Is Jesus present when my son or daughter is considering suicide? Where is Jesus when the people who said they loved me no longer loved me? Where I don't have enough money to pay for groceries and every single one of you have been at grave sites and have been at homes where parents have been desperate for their children and worried about them whether they're on drugs or alcohol. The reality of our ministry is that we are meant to pour ourselves into people around us but we cannot pour into them if the well has run dry. Amen? We can't give what we don't have. This reminds me of a story of a person who actually works at this university and he's not talking tonight so I'm gonna steal his story. This is a true story. This friend of mine went on a Marian pilgrimage and he got there and wanted to buy a special gift for his wife to be. It was gonna be something that was so personal and so beautiful but when he got to this Marian site he didn't have enough money for food and the gift so he decided I'll buy the gift and I guess I'll just get one loaf of bread and just munch on that for the next four days or so and basically starve for the week and then I'll make it back and just offer it as a sacrifice for my upcoming marriage. So he woke up early, took a chunk of bread, was eating and basically all day long walked around trying to pray and enjoy the sites and not think about how hungry he was. He'd come home late at night exhausted and fall in bed asleep. He did that every day for a number of days until he backed up his bags and got ready to leave and it's making his way down the house steps. He's getting ready to go to the airport. The lady at the place he was staying stopped and said, oh my gosh, we have missed you all week. Where have you been? And he didn't want a big deal out of it. He's like I've been just, I don't know just going out and praying, making a pilgrimage of it. She said, oh man, we wanted to hang out with you. We had a little play set for you every morning at breakfast for you to sit and join us for a meal. And he looks at her and he's like, yeah. And then we thought, well maybe we'll see you at night for dinner, but you never showed up and we had a play set for you there as well. And actually you paid for that. That was part of what you paid for when you came to here. Do you know who I'm talking about? It's Liz Nefky. The truth of the matter is I started laughing my butt off when I heard that story and I thought that is the epitome of our spiritual life so often. You have been blessed in every and the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing of Christ and yet we are living an emaciated, a non-abundant life. We're starving to death. There are two things recently that I heard that just shook me. I was in Australia doing some ministry. And one of the things that I do a lot with is marriage and family ministry. We do tons of that, my wife and I. And the reality of, if you ask this question from most people, I asked a couple of the speakers too and they gave the same answers. If you ask anybody what are the two greatest problems marriages are facing today, we always say sex and money. That's usually the big catalyst for the biggest arguments and oftentimes can lead to divorce or pursuit of an annulment. I was in Australia and I was at the diocese of Parameda and they said, this was so fascinating to me. They said, actually in our area what we're finding is people are seeking annulments and seeking divorce that the two things that they are struggling with the most are isolation and basically an inability to be tenacious. Like it's hard to explain except they're too willing to give up. So this lack of almost like resistance, right? So they encounter a struggle and they don't resist it. They don't fight, they give up in isolation. And I thought to myself, you don't have to be married for those qualities to be the struggle. That's every one of you here, isolation, right? And that lack of tenacity, really what we could say is fortitude. See the truth is that the more and more, and this is very important, the more and more I see priests isolate themselves from the parish and from one another, the more they're gonna be picked off because there is not a support structure. And here's the struggle, this is true. You are almost being set up for failure sometimes. Is it okay if I said that? I'm gonna tell you the truth, this is from a priest friend of mine. He said what he said, he goes, I don't know what we're gonna do because they are consolidating all of the parishes, partly that can help because now we don't have to stress about jumping to 12 parishes. But the problem is they wanna put administrators into the parishes and have the priests pop around to different parishes. And basically he goes, all we are at the end is just magic hands, isolation. He goes, they already say we can't be married. I have no family here, right? And then we're gonna be robbed from that family dynamic in our parishes that we're building. Like we're more alone now than ever. I was with my spiritual director and I was talking about this with him and he says that's the message that you need to give to those priests and those deacons when you speak to them. What do you do when you're frustrated with the bishop? What do you do in those moments when you feel lonely and you're aching and you're hurting and you feel isolated? What do you do when you feel that lack and that inability to resist the idea of giving in? There was a word that was given this afternoon to me that was for you and it was many of you who have been struggling maybe since COVID. Some of the struggles and sins that you had previous to that that you've fallen back into that feeling of just hopelessness like you'll never get out of that funk again. And even tonight, John Paul said it, some of you that idea of an imposter syndrome. How can I be ministering when I am the person who needs to be ministered to? But the truth of the matter is God is bigger than your sin. Amen? And God is bigger than your circumstance. Amen? And God is bigger than the lies of hell that keep whispering in your eel. Amen? I don't know what an eel is, but it's an ear, I think. I'm having a stroke. Don't worry about it. Something wrong with me. Get out of the beginning of the five points. I'll go fast. Don't panic. Holy identity. That's already been addressed to you in a couple of different ways. We had Deacon Harold really kind of spearhead that a little bit even when he talked about I'm not a black man who's this, that, and the other. Like I'm a child of God who happens to be black. Now I would never say that. So I'm just trying to repeat what he said. Let's be clear for anybody listening to the audio. Holy identity. Let me hear you say identity. Who are you? There we go. That's nice. I wasn't expecting a response. All right, so. I have a good friend of mine. His name's Mike, and Mike does this exercise. Mike Botan, he does this exercise. He gets a kid who volunteers so they don't feel weird and he asks some to sit in a chair and he asks them this one question over and over. He goes, who are you? And the kid tries to process this. And he says, well, whatever, I'm Chris. Who are you? I'm a son. Who are you? I'm an athlete, I play basketball. Who are you? He keeps going and going and going. There's almost a sense of frustration like, what are you asking of me? And it gets down to this, I am a child of God. And that identity with who I am when it comes to God is so important. But what I want you to do is to think about this idea of holy identity with the Blessed Mother. Who is she with God? She is a daughter, right? Who is she with herself? She says, the handmaid of the Lord. And who is she with St. Joseph? The betrothed. I want you to think about that in your own life personally. Who are you? When you think about it from God's perspective, who are you? When you think about yourself, and John Paul addressed that, when you think about yourself, I am who you say that I am. We were singing that song. But when you think about yourself, who are you? What do you think? Are you valuable? Are you beautiful? Are you worthy? Are you special? One time I was in Indiana and I was asking a group of kids a simple question. I said, tell me 10 things that you like about yourself. Is there anybody who could tell me 10 things? Well, they all looked at me like I was crazy. And I thought, that's probably too much. I need to lower it. How about five things? Five things that you like that you love about yourself different than your family, different than your friends, blank stares, all right? How about one thing that you like about yourself? One thing that you're grateful for. And this girl, she says, I could name one thing. She said, I think I'm funny. I thought, that's awesome. Well, then I thought, okay, okay, how about this? How many of you could think of maybe some things in your life that you'd like to, I didn't even get to finish the sentence and a girl yells out pages. There would be pages of things that she would change. That there are pages of things she's unsatisfied, dissatisfied with. She doesn't like who she is. Her hair's not a certain way. She doesn't stand as tall as she'd like. She's not as smart as others. Not as fast on the track team. Not this and not that. Pages and pages of dissatisfaction. Who are you? What is your identity? And the way that identity works is that we move from that identity. We move from that identity. I am not just a husband. I am not just a father or a grandfather. I am not just given profound powers to make chairs fall at whim. You can either ignore it or draw attention to it. I'm a child of God. Here's the second. We have a holy identity. The second is a holy receptivity. When we look at the life of the Blessed Mother and her relationship with the Holy Spirit, we see a holy receptivity. First, to God's will. His will. That this incredible story, that salvific work that God would become flesh and dwell among us. The invisible God made visible. All deity in bodily form, Emmanuel, God with us. And that incredible receptivity is meant to be modeled and emulated by us. That receptivity with God's plan as Mary chooses a husband, which would have been the most logical and normal course of action for a woman. But she knew that with that holy receptivity that God would bring to her a husband that would have the same heart as she did when it came to that consecration to the Lord. A holy receptivity shows up in that complete and entire surrender to the spirit. And that, my friends, is a huge point for us today because I think that many of you have been certainly demonstrated an exemplary when it comes to receptivity for God's will and God's plan. As you've said, yes, to priesthood. But what I'm concerned about is that there has been a lack of receptivity when it comes to this spirit, the Holy Spirit as a person, not some sort of weird, ethereal, kind of non-corporeal, just kind of entity, rather a person, the third person of the Blessed Trinity who wants an intimate relationship with you, pouring into you the intimacy of God, the Father's love to the Son and the Son to the Father. And that to me brings up a very important thing I want to read to you, which comes from a person that we all know and certainly love. And it is from Mother Teresa, St. Mother Teresa. And it's here somewhere. I'm gonna get to that. Don't you panic, Chris. I worry. This is what she wrote to some of her people who worked in her order, the Sisters of Charity and those that were part of that ministry. This is what she said to them. I worry that some of you still have not really met Jesus. She's speaking to her sisters. I worry that some of you still have not really met Jesus. One to one, you and him alone. Jesus wants me to tell you again how much is the love he has for each one of you beyond all that you can imagine. And we may spend time in chapel, but have you seen with the eyes of your soul how he looks at you with love? Do you really know the living Jesus? Not from books, from being with him in your heart. Have you heard the loving words he speaks to you? Never give up on this daily intimate contact with Jesus as a real living person, not just an idea. How can we last even one day living our life without hearing Jesus say, I love you, impossible? Our soul needs that as much as the body needs to breathe the air. If not prayer is dead, meditation is only thinking. This is it. I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Why, because it's my source of effectivity and productivity. Why, because it is that culmination of virtue I'm growing in an intimacy, that divine intimacy, that divine life. It's a personal encounter. St. John says in his first letter, that which we have seen what we've heard what our hands have handled, that we proclaim to you. In other words, I know him. I leaned against his chest. It's not an ideology, a philosophy, some sort of doctrinal presentation. It's a person. And that person becomes flesh as well as flesh. There's going to be a spoof reel from just all of my inabilities. It's like, are you drunk? I'm not, I'm filled with the spirit. Thanks for clapping at that. Here's the third, holy availability, holy availability. Let me hear you say, I am available. Yes, praise God. And that's what we need, right? That harvest, it's so ready. There's so much. It's just looking for people to say yes and all of you in your own different ministries have said yes in so many ways. I love this, that Mary is wholly available when it comes to her hiddenness. She's ready, she's willing. Just look at that immediacy, that willingness to go to Elizabeth, that immediacy to disclose and to share with Joseph, this personal encounter that she had with that holy receptivity and ultimately Jesus in utero, that availability to be the tabernacle. That this is what we are all invited to, to be so available in our hiddenness, in our ministries, to be ready to be willing. Yes, I'll go. I'll minister to that person who's sick. Yes, I'll go. I'm gonna be in devotion to St. Joseph as he leads the way and yes, I'll go as Jesus has conformed in me. Here's the fourth, holy activity. Let me say activity. See, this is it right here. This idea of doing, doing. This we get. We get the doing, the activity but the problem is so many of us are busy. We're so busy. But the problem isn't that those things are lacking virtue. We need to be caring for and loving those that are given to us but, but the doing has to flow from the being. The doing has to flow from the being. Let me tell you something very important. I will never be an effective minister and I've been doing this for about 30 years, full time. This is all I've ever done. For 30 years, I will never be an effective minister of Jesus if I am not a minister at home with my wife and my children. In fact, I would never do this if my wife was in opposition to this. She is just as much a part of tonight as I am. When I was in Australia doing some work, I had one basically day and a half to do what would almost be an entire course on evangelization. I was given this crazy opportunity and she said to me, Chris, when you get home, you can rest but there you work. That's empowering. See, my wife doesn't have to be convinced about the call because we're both called to this ministry and that means that's a holy activity. That means that we pour ourselves. My wife has an image of being a drink offering. That's her whole image for the way that she looks at marriage and ministry. She will pour herself out to the last drop for the salvation of souls. This is what we're all called to. Yes, some of us need to be very careful because you're burning the wick at both ends but this holy activity, it is going to be possible if you allow Jesus to satisfy you, if you allow the spirit of God to move within you but it will not be possible if you try to do it in your own strength. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me but you can do nothing effective in your own strength. And my friends, it is worth soaking in the goodness of this because just as a small child takes pleasure in being rewarded from the father who ultimately recognizes they're going to have to do all of the work that the child was tasked with, the father has joy at your efforts but the key and this is really important is that he will do the ministry that needs to be done whether you're here or not. This is going to be hard for me to communicate so help me to be a little patient with me. Sometimes we get caught up and think I am my ministry. No, it is a little different for priesthood because you are literally ontologically changed, okay? But God can use another speaker any day compared to me. Do you see what I'm saying? But he chooses to use me. I don't know why, but I am so grateful because I have no other skill. This is it. And I am convinced and you can prove me wrong that God calls the neediest of people to minister because if you're needy, then you're going to run to him. The truth of the matter is this is a great collection of misfits here today. I can barely see you, but what I'm seeing is not pretty. Preach it, somebody. Holy activity. I think at the end of the day, it's very important to me. Jesus chooses to call you into priesthood, into deaconate, to this life, this religious life because he knows this is where you will find the intimacy with him the most beautiful. Listen to me, this is what he is about. He wants you in an intimate relationship with him and the example is Mary in a receptivity with the Holy Spirit. And that receptivity with the Holy Spirit and that identity with the Holy Spirit, it's the Marian example of availability and the Marian example of activity. But the concern is not all the stuff because he loves each of them personally, intimately as well but he's working a sanctity in you and this is the avenue in which you are invited to be the saints that you're called to be. And so if you are resisting that, that spirit of God that is working in you, then you will not be the saints that you're called to be and you will try to satisfy your needs with wants and you will not be happy. The last is that holy specificity. And what I mean by this is that Jesus gives to each of us gifts according to our abilities. And the example is that story of the talents. The master gives to each of them according to their ability. That's a very important phrase. So each person has gifts and talents. When he gives them the money, it is so that they succeed. What he gives them, they are already set up for success. He knows they're capable and able. Now they have to act. And that specificity of the father is so important and that specificity of the father is what enables you to have the specificity that you need in your ministry. So God is not calling me to do music anymore. Thanks be to God. Because the truth of the matter is he's calling me to do something different. And for many of you who lived a different life before you became priests or deacons, this is a very specific time in your life, a very specific place. So he's not giving you eight talents if he's already given you seven for a specific purpose. What does that mean for you? What does that look like for you? That holy specificity and all of this simply put leads us to what? Holy intimacy. My friends, I sell this to couples getting married all the time. Marriage is so much more amazing and better than you could have ever imagined. The world says here is the standard of marriage. This is a good marriage. And you might be lucky enough to have a marriage like here, right here, a little bit higher. But the church looks and says, oh no, marriage is gonna be up off the charts because it's a sacrament. It's holy, Christ is present. This is your avenue for sanctity for the rest of your life. You get to pour into one another and be a gift to one another. And as your body sags and drags and decays, you can get more and more intimate in your relationship with God and one another. It's an amazing intimacy. But don't you be confused or disillusioned because marriage will be far harder than you could have ever imagined. And that is the truth for every single one of you who said yes to religious life to priesthood. What a beautiful, glorious opportunity. And for some of you, the idea was right here. And then God looked at you and said, that's a nice place, but I want you to be a saint. That's what that looks like. For the last two years, I've been infatuated with the saint, Saint Charles de Foucauld, whose life could not be more opposite of mine. He was a man who joined the military, lived a very gregarious and freewheeling life, self gratification at every turn. This guy lived large. He was at some point super disenfranchised by it and began to go around with a Jewish man into certain areas that were basically hidden from European, basically exploration, certainly not Christian. And he began to do this map work that became world-renowned. I mean, he was respected and revered, but he wasn't satisfied having reached kind of this pinnacle of exploration and cartology. I think that's what you call it. Is that what you call them, map makers? So the truth is, is that I'm reading this and I'm thinking there's nothing in common here. Why am I being drawn to this guy? I think what happened was in the book I was reading, it starts out with he had no converts. Basically he didn't have a congregation, didn't even get his orders started. Nobody followed him and he did nothing. Basically he didn't baptize people, didn't write a book. He just had one goal, which was to live the hidden life of Jesus. What? Well, where's the memo for that? Where's the manual? For his whole life, that's what he does. Nobody even knew he was doing it. When he went to Jerusalem, he ended up going to Jerusalem and they thought he was a janitor for the poor cleres, like a homeless person. At some point they start realizing the poor cleres, this guy, there's something about him. And then they realized, wait a minute, he ends up becoming a priest, which he did not want to do because he didn't want to draw attention to himself. And then he ends up getting permission because the trappists, of course, were not strict enough. He went into the middle of nowhere where there were thousands and thousands of Muslims. And eventually he's what? Martyred. And he's a saint, he was just canonized. I'm married with nine children. I've never been in the military and I'm not going in the desert. This body was not made for that. I'm going to tell you that right now. But I can't get enough of him and the reason is because he lived this detached life. He allowed Jesus to satisfy the deepest need and he wanted to love the people that God brought to him. That's what I want. I've reduced life down to two simple things. I think that this life is what? I think it's this. I'm meant to learn what it looks like to let Jesus love me and then I'm meant to love the people that he brings to me. That's it. And if I do that, then Jesus will be glorified. It starts in my home with my wife and with my children. You know, I didn't grow up Catholic as I mentioned. The truth of the matter is it was not on my to-do list. There's no way I wanted to be Catholic. Most of the Catholics that I knew didn't even know why they believed what they believed. My wife used to call this youth minister the swearing priest because we didn't understand the difference between priesthood and ministry at that point. He's cussing all the time. I mean, we liked him and he knew God but boy, that guy could swear. And then I met this priest, long hair, Birkenstock's crazy. I don't know what's going on with this whole thing. I just was insane. That's hard for you to imagine. But back then, I was crazy. With getting a car, I'd be driving around with him. I'd start flicking his windshield wipers on, his little ticker clickers for turning the signals and the radio. I'd shove that on, the air conditioner. I'd mess around. At some point, he literally stopped and he looked at me. He goes, you know I can kill you right now and then forgive myself. Come to find out he can't. Forgive himself, but he could kill me. So one time we were looking at, there was this thing called the Christian Bookseller distributors. They have this big paper magazine of all books and we're looking at and I saw a Catholic study Bible and I looked at my priest friend and I said, look at an oxymoron. That guy loved me. And I would just sit with him and I would ask him question after question. Do I have to pray the rosary if I do this Catholic thing? No, you don't. I don't know why you wouldn't want to, but you don't. What about the Immaculate Conception? Do I have to believe that? Yep, you got to believe that. What about the Assumption? We would go through lists and he would look at me and he would just love me and he would just tell me. And I knew he loved me even if I didn't believe what he believed. Easter of 1999 when I became Catholic, I was so excited and I thought this is it. This is what I was called to. And then one day Jesus said to me, Chris if you want to go deeper with me, I want you to have a relationship with my mother. And I was terrified. I read everything I could. Then I had a professor here at this university that basically the Mariologist par excellence. He was my instructor and he was the advisor for me. I took every class that he offered and basically I would come home. I'd be so angry at these classes because I'm thinking you guys are out of control. And then I realized what am I afraid of? And I was afraid that if I do this, if I love Mary like everybody else is telling me to, I'm going to commit idolatry. And then I realized I'll never be able to love Mary. Like Jesus. But what if I came in second? Which I won't because that's Saint Joseph. How about third? Saint Therese. How about fourth? Well probably Francis and Claire. I don't know. Fifth, well probably the apostles. I don't know. How about millionth? How about the first trillionth? How about the first gazillionth? The point is, is that when I think about this, this idea of a Marian receptivity, this openness to the work of the spirit, what I think about is hope. And some of you, you need those miracles. And that hope. So I want you to close your eyes as we get ready to make our way into this. Just kind of a couple minutes of prayer. I'm going to ask you to do something for me that's really important tonight. I'm going to ask you to not care about what anybody thinks next to you. I'm going to ask you to be radical in your bravery. I want you to ask a simple question. What is getting in the way of you being the Saint that God is calling you to be? What is getting in the way of you being that Saint that you're called to be? And for many of you, it is very difficult to imagine change. But I'm going to have you say this phrase with me. I serve a God of new beginnings. Say that. Say it again. I serve a God of new beginnings. So tonight, I believe this with all of my heart. God wants to do a new work in you. He wants you to be completely and entirely receptive to the Holy Spirit, a holy identity so that you can know in your core that if the world falls apart, if the parishioners argue and complain that you are that child of God, that Son of God, I want you to have that holy receptivity. Come Holy Spirit, the entirety of who you are. I give the entirety of who I am. Holy availability, anything that you want. I am available. A holy activity. Lord, I will go into all the world and preach the gospel. That holy specificity. Lord, bring to me the people that you want me to love. Lord, love me so I can love the people that you bring to me. Lord, love me so I can do from being with you. So, here's what I'm going to have you do. Some of you sit next to people you know. Some of you sit next to people you don't know. I'm going to ask you to do something brave. I'm going to ask you to bless one another. I'm going to ask you to pray over each other. And those of you that are already in the zone with the Spirit, I want you to pray in the Spirit. And I want you to ask the Holy Spirit to come to fill your brothers. Do the sign of the cross in their forehead. Pray, listen for a second. What is the Holy Spirit saying? How can you pray over them? How can you pray for them? But ultimately what I want you to do is say a holy intimacy. Lord, give my brother a holy intimacy with you. Holy Spirit, come breathe your intimacy into us. What do you want from God tonight? What do you want? What miracle do you want? Father Davis, he makes his way up. I want you to begin to just pray over each other right now. So, lean in next to you. You can get in groups of two or three or four, but I want you to pray over each other. Don't be afraid. Let's pray out loud.