 Welcome, brothers. 1997, January of 1997, maybe it was, I think it was 1997, was perhaps one of the best days of my life. Born and raised in Colorado, and I, my entire life, was a Denver Bronco fan. So up until that year, my record was 0 and 4 in Super Bowls. Now my second favorite team was the Minnesota Vikings, which would make me 0 and 8 in Super Bowls. Had I been a Buffalo Bills fan, I would not be standing here before you, huh? But I remember watching the Super Bowls, and really, I mean, as a kid, as only a kid, you raised, and that was really the big thing, Notre Dame football and Denver Bronco football, my home. And I remember being in the friary here, it was the old friary, and I had been ordained for about a year, year at the time, and the Broncos were obviously playing the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowls. So anyone who's from Green Bay or Wisconsin, sorry about that, Tom, it's just something you're going to have to deal with though, huh? But it was just fantastic, and I remember literally jumping up and down and jumping on the table that was in front, it was just a small table, it wasn't a high table, I wouldn't jump on a high table, it's just a small table. And I remember one of the older friars looking at me like, what is wrong with you? But it wasn't anything that I had planned, there was just an excitement. I mean, we've all probably experienced something like that, that you see something, your team scores a goal or a basket or a home run or something else that stirs you or something like that, same type of thing happens with soccer apparently. But there's just something that stirs in you that has this automatic reaction or if something funny happens, it's not something that you think about, it just spontaneously happens, amen? You've ever had anything like that happen to you? Of course, we all have. So when we hear from Paul speaking to the Romans, he says quite beautifully, you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption through which you cry out, Abba, Father. So I ask you to take a moment and reflect on the type of spirit that you've received. You have not received a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. I mean, what does that spirit of slavery look like? Imagine for a moment the relationship between a slave and a master. The slave is property and the slave approaches the master as such, as property, not significantly different than cattle or plows or a field. I mean, how do we approach? When we think about how we approach God, do we approach God out of, as Paul says, fear, trembling? Are we cautious, anxious, nervous? You see, the slave approaches the master, in one sense, as a beggar, hoping that if they've been blessed, if they've been good, if they've done what they're supposed to do, they will be showered and be stowed with the blessings of the master. When you think about the words that you describe, the manner in which you approach God, what words do you use? Is it words such as confidence and expectation and joy, or is it obligation, trepidation, fear? Paul says, you have not received. Do we go before God if we don't want to bother him and we're afraid we're going to make him mad? I mean, one sense we could ask ourselves, how do we do this with the bishop? Because in some ways I think we may do that same thing as a bishop. Now, I obviously don't have the same relationship as a bishop that you do. And it may be hard for some of you to believe, but we have actually had a provincial that has not been the most fatherly person ever. Amen? Thank you. I know who it was. I know that voice. The reason is the question. I mean, how do we go before God, but also how do we go before a bishop's son? Because we are sons. And we need to be able to claim that, that we are not slaves, we are not employees. So even if the master or the bishop or the provincial, whoever it is that we're supposed to go to, even if they don't see themselves or treat us as fathers, that we are still sons and we can go before them as such with a confidence. And I know that that's difficult, but it's a question that we have to ask ourselves, how do we approach God and how do we approach our bishop, our provincial, our authorities, our pastor? I'm not going to deal with how you approach your wife. That's a whole other issue that we don't have time for. Nor do I have the expertise to actually even talk about that, huh? But Paul says that we go before, not with the spirit of slavery, rather with the spirit of adoption that allows us to cry out. We heard Dr. Berg's talk on Monday and Tuesday about the occasions with which the scriptures speak of God as father. And I think he said, what was it, 30 some odd times in the Old Testament? And it was all covenantial language. Never is the term Abba used in the Old Testament. So Jesus is saying something different than what was referred to or referenced to in the Old Testament, that Jesus says Abba. And we've heard this so many times that it doesn't cause us to be kind of shaken. I mean, imagine if the scripture was the spirit comes upon us and cries out, we cry out, sugar daddy. I mean, that's just shocking or sweetie, or I don't know what it is, but we need to understand that when Jesus says that we cry out Abba, that there was something so shocking about that that it caused an entire population of people to turn against Jesus. He may have been okay, but when he begins to speak about God like Abba, there's something wrong with this. I remember a friend of mine, he always had to call his dad either father or sir. And it just seemed so strange to me to have to call your father, and he was, as you can imagine, very stern and very... And he was father, but I don't know if he was Abba. That there's something different between father, and I understand all the beauty that there is in that, but it's clear that Jesus brings something into the conversation and invites us to look at God in a radically different way. And it's not only father, but it's a type of father. And the type of father that Jesus wants to reveal is Abba. Paul says in the Romans that the Holy Spirit comes upon us and we receive a spirit of adoption that causes us to cry out. In the same way I cry out when the Broncos score a touchdown, I didn't think about what I was going to say, it just instinctively comes from me in I-Hall or whatever. It says the Spirit comes upon us and we cry out Abba. Interestingly, the Spirit doesn't cause us to cry out, Savior, Redeemer, Yahweh, the Holy One, the Glorious One, or anything, the Spirit comes upon us brothers and what we cry out is Daddy. If you want to get this image, go online and if you feel like you're melancholic and you want a good cry, go online and watch when GIs are coming back from Afghanistan and all that and they show these pictures of these little kids and the little moms aren't saying, okay what I want you to do is when your dad comes out I want you to run out and I want you to yell Daddy. Nobody has to tell the kids that because they know what to scream when they see their Daddy running to them, huh? In none of the videos did I see did they run out and say Father or Sir, the Spirit comes upon us and we don't have to think about it. Brothers, have you experienced that? Have you experienced the Holy Spirit coming upon you in a manner with which you cry out Daddy because in that there's a tenderness and there's a beauty and there's a peace and there's a safety in Daddy, huh? So often times even with Father and again I'm not, that's an important image obviously, but Jesus makes us, it's the type of Father that Jesus reveals, huh? It's the Father that I can run up and I can jump on His lap and I know that I'm not bothering Him, I know that I'm not an intrusion, I know that He has time for me, I know that He notices me, that's Daddy, huh? Father maybe is behind a desk, but Jesus, it's not just Father, it's a type of Father. There was a great movie years ago, I think it was called Parenthood, was Steve Martin in it? There was this one scene this guy, he said anybody can be a Father, but not anybody can be an idiot by just getting some gal pregnant to be a Father, but only a few people can be Daddy, huh? That's one of the lines. That's the type of God we have, that when the Spirit comes upon us and something cries out and what we cry out is Father is all but it's Daddy, it understands that we have this relationship and this intimacy, there's something intimate about that word Daddy, such that we rarely speak like that. When we speak about God, we speak of Father, but imagine changing our lexicon over the next weeks and months and when we refer to God, we refer to God as Daddy. There's an intimacy in that. And those of you who are deacons, you have that blessing that I don't have. I mean, I love, I remember when my niece first used my name, she couldn't say Uncle and she called me Uncle Dave and it was the best thing in the world. I don't know what it's like to have a child of mine call me Daddy. And those of you who are deacons can speak to that in a manner in which that we as Fathers can't on so many levels, but that intimacy, that's why some of the some of the students I've had over the years, they'll call me Padre, there's something about that that's intimate, huh? Daddy, the Spirit comes upon us and we cry out Daddy. And in that place, there's safety and there's intimacy and there's gentleness and that we know that we're seen and we know that we're not interrupting. How do we go before the Lord? Do we go before the Lord as Master or do we go before the Lord as Abba? How do we approach God? I love watching my little nieces and nephews around. It doesn't matter what my little brother's in Cleveland. He could have a whole thing full of papers and contracts and all that kind of thing and when they were little they would just run up and just move it all because they knew that they could go to their Daddy. It didn't matter what was going on because they knew that at that moment that they would have their Daddy's attention. They didn't have to talk him into it. He saw them, he noticed them. Do we go before the Lord as Daddy? But I always found it interesting that Paul speaks of this spirit of adoption which cries out Abba Father and I always thought about that. Why the spirit of adoption? Isn't there something that's kind of subtle in us that adoption is second rate? Isn't it better to be born? When my mom and dad and their love conceived me there's something beautiful about that and that they didn't put me up for adoption. Isn't it better that why didn't he say we have a spirit of being a son or a daughter? Why does he qualify it with a spirit of adoption? Why doesn't he just say we cry out as a child Abba Father? But he does and he says that we cry out we will receive as a spirit of adoption. Well in Roman law and obviously Paul's writing into the Romans here makes the same reference in Galatians but in Romans law that when you had a child if that child wasn't perfect you could abandon that child. Now when my mom and dad had me I come out and they're literally stuck with me. It's like well I guess you're my son I guess you're my parents so we're stuck with each other, huh? Now they got a pretty good deal in this if I don't say so and so did I. But in Roman law that wasn't the case if the child wasn't exactly what you wanted you could abandon the child. You wanted a girl and you got a boy you could abandon that child. Your child was only born with four fingers this is becoming more real in me over the last couple years I've gone to China a number of times and literally they will abandon children if they have this what we always called an angel's kiss a little mark you know a little red mark or something like that. If the child has anything wrong with them since they can only have one child they'll abandon them. I work with this group of nuns that will wake up in the morning and there will be babies at their front doorstep. There's a big sign and by the please don't leave your babies here these sisters will take the baby in and they'll hide it so the police don't find out about it. If that child isn't perfect and you only get one they abandon the child same thing in Roman law if it wasn't perfect if you've been to the church of the hospital of the Holy Spirit in Rome just down the street from the Vatican there's this little turnstile in what it was for was in the early days that you could place this baby in a turnstile and close it and it would open up to the convent you could just leave that and abandon that baby there for any reason unless you adopt that child if you adopt a child you can never abandon that child the thinking was that you know what you're getting that when you adopt a child you adopt perhaps a child among many so you see these child and you want this child so it didn't matter after the process of adoption in Roman law once you've adopted that child you could never abandon it and not only that but that child got the same rights as any other child and if that child or that child's family had any debts anything held against it all of those were wiped clean that this child was now one of your own and once you adopted that child you could never abandon you could never walk away you knew fully what you were getting you knew the good, you knew the bad you knew the warts, you knew all of that and you adopt, you choose this child and you can never abandon it hence when Paul says that the spirit of adoption comes upon you he's reminding us that the father the daddy the spirit of adoption which allows us to cry out Abba that we will never be abandoned that the Lord has chosen us he has picked us, he knows everything about us that's one of the things I love about when David has chosen in 2 Samuel and we know all the stories they bring all the sons this one, not this one, not this one well there's only one left and it's the youngest the youngest is out in the field because he pulled the short straw let's see him and David comes out and he's young and ready looking and he says anoint him and think about this God knew everything about David what do we know about David eventually he committed adultery he had a child born out of wedlock that father's murder to try to cover up the sin I mean if we had a president that did something like that he probably wouldn't have a positive rating and yet we all have a fairly positive feeling about David amen and God saw David and he knew everything that David was going to do and he still chose David why? because David's heart was turned towards the Lord and I mean that David was going to always do things perfect absolutely not but God chose him knowing his weakness knowing his brokenness knowing his difficulty God still chooses him as God has chosen you and he has chosen me and at times I remind him of that this was not my idea my idea and he still chooses me hopefully because my heart is turned towards him and at times this heart wanders and looks away and the Lord still chooses me and still chooses you in a manner in a way that says I will never abandon you I've chosen you among others and I will never walk away from you I will never abandon you I will never leave you orphan I always have time for you I always notice you I see those things that you do that nobody else knows I see your fear of the dark that nobody else understands and I still choose you and I choose you and I desire to be your Abba your daddy your ability and the fear and the confusion and the wonderings and the why me's and couldn't you have found somebody else and it seems like I don't quite do it right and God still chooses David and he still chooses me and he still chooses you and he will never abandon us and for the Spirit has come upon us and we cry out and my prayer for you brother is upon us that allows us to cry out Abba because what the Spirit does and it's what we saw in one sense in that image that sculpting last night that the Spirit holds the Father and the Son together and the Spirit reveals the Father and the Spirit reveals the Son but in John Jesus says that Jesus reveals the Father he says in John 10 30 he and the Father are one in John 5 19 Jesus answered and he said to them amen amen I say to you a Son cannot do anything on his own but he can only see what he sees the Father doing for what he does his Son will also do what the Father does the Son will also do for the Father loves his Son and shows him everything that he himself has done the Son can do nothing by himself so we should probably stop trying if Jesus reveals anything particularly in the Gospel of John is that he can do nothing without the Father and if Jesus could do nothing apart from the Father I suggest that we can do less than nothing although I don't know what less than nothing is I had this cool encounter that happened one time I was with a student and it's when I was living in Europe and we had gone out myself and a bunch of students had gone out one evening and it was kind of cold and one of the students, one of the gals didn't have a jacket on it was kind of chilly so one of the guys took off his jacket and very heroically and gave it, gives him her jacket and his jacket and she puts on the jacket and he gets all warm and all that so he kind of walks through the rest of the evening a little bit cold but he offers it up for this gallery man we would have done the same thing right so a couple of days later I'm talking to another student and she was recounting this whole experience she had watched this whole thing happen and she had watched this guy give his jacket to her and she says to me you know Father Dave that never happens to me guys never give me their jacket I said to you I said well didn't you have a jacket well yes but guys never give me theirs you had a jacket well I know because I'm not stupid it was cold and I went out I wasn't going to go out without a jacket because I'm not dumb but nobody ever gives me I said you had a jacket nobody is going to give you another jacket then we began to talk and we began to pray she never lets anybody take care of her she always covers her bases she's always self sufficient she's never going to be caught out without a jacket and as such she's never going to have the experience of a man giving her her jacket and I think we do the same thing with God sometimes you guys I think what we do is we try to cover our bases such that we never really allow the Lord to give us his jacket that we never really allow the Lord to take care of us to rescue us that we cover our bases such that we never really have to count on the Lord Jesus could do nothing without the Lord but we want to build everything that we're doing and make sure that we don't really have to count on the Lord because there's a part of us that's afraid that he's really not going to come through and the reality is it's us that's going to look stupid not him so we do everything we can to try to create our ministry and all that we do so that we really don't have to trust in Jesus or trust in the Father so we never risk very much we never go a little bit further we never try anything really new unless we're absolutely positive this is going to succeed we never allow ourselves to walk on water because we're afraid we're going to drown I love when we went water skiing one time it was my father, my uncle, my brothers and my nephews and all that my little nephew was maybe he'd never water skied in his life and he jumps out it's time to go water skiing it's like okay who's going to go first my little nephew literally jumps out of the boat into the water he's never water skied in his life and he's like ready to go and I said to him I said Jacob what are you doing he goes I'm going to go water skiing I said well do you have any idea what you're doing no no idea at all well do you know how to water ski nope what are you doing he goes don't worry uncle Dave he's going to drown but papa's not going to let him drown and my concern brothers is that we never really get out of the boat or we never get to that place that we really have to trust in God or we really understand more fully that we can do nothing if we're honest most of what we do we know what we're doing because we're good at it or we've done it before we've been successful but do we really come to the place that I have to trust in you I'm absolutely radically totally dependent on you father and if you don't come through I'm toast you all receive that little thing that and I just shared this the wild goose it's a it's a project that I'm working on because and I'm going to talk about this near the end I think one of the things the church needs is to have a deeper understanding of the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit doesn't belong to a group it doesn't belong to the charismatic renewal it belongs to the church the charismatic renewal has obviously done something beautiful at helping us see the Holy Spirit but for me this was a step in faith having to go out and raise money and put all of this stuff out there and I remember saying God you've got to show up you've got it you've got to show up and there was this for a little while there was this tension and kind of this nervousness and anxiety and before I go to sleep it's like you know what if I don't raise the money blah blah blah but there comes this place I said Lord this wasn't my idea and I'm going to give it to you and if it's going to work it's going to work if it's not it's going to not but I've done what I think you want me to do huh and I'll talk more specifically about the project a little bit later but the money was raised in less than 14 days so I didn't have to worry about it anymore I didn't have to think about it anymore God is faithful huh and he's not going to let us drown and he's going to take care of us but what it demands of us is that we come to the place that we realize that we are dependent on God not our own strength not our own power not our own influence not our own position but I am radically dependent on God and God if for a moment you turn your face for me I am toast and if we've got the courage that we pray Lord put me in a position where I have to depend on you where I have no other option but to depend on you and I suggest that that's a scary prayer it's like the first time the first the only time I went skydiving I mean when you're sitting there with your feet over the over the plane and you're about to jump there's a moment of reckoning at that point huh it's like this shoot better open up or my parents are going to be this was my provincial who didn't know about it till after the fact ultimately the opposite of dependence is autonomy and independence I suggest for too many of us priest brothers we deep in our heart desire even we desire autonomy and by that radical independence that says I want to do whatever I want to do and if I'll be honest if I'm honest I want the support of the provincial when I want the support of the provincial but sometimes it's better just to be quiet and not see amen or maybe that's just a religious issue maybe daisus and never have to deal with that we desire to be autonomous from God from one another do we really want to be seen do we want that accountability we desire to be autonomous from the bishop unless we need something it seems to me that one of the ways the evil one is working today is the spirit of autonomy and independence and oddly enough it's the only the evil one who's actually autonomous the Lord has given in that fine be autonomous be separated from me we need to pray brothers for a spirit of dependency rather than a spirit of autonomy rather than a spirit of independence that says not only I radically need the father I a son need a father but I need brothers brothers who will support and encourage and rejoice in my rejoicing and suffering my sufferings that that this living and shadows are being seen when everything is going well when we feel strong or hiding when we feel nervous or anxious or insecure we need to pray brothers to be released and to free be freed from a spirit of autonomy and actually be grafted be grafted to the Lord be grafted to the father be grafted to Jesus be grafted to the church Jesus was distinct from the father but it was not autonomous we don't lose our distinction we don't lose our individual beauty and our goodness and our selfness by being connected by being dependent in fact it's quite the opposite when I'm radically dependent on the father I am more myself I am more distinct in myself amen so again the spirit reveals the father and then Jesus says that I can only see what I I can only do what I see the father doing so I want it for a moment or two just to talk about that what might we see the father doing and when I pray and you know when I spend time reflecting what do I see the father doing today in the image I have is the father and it's an arm huh it's a large a powerful arm and when I pray when I see this image he holds his hand he is holding back his arm and that on one side of this is God's people and on the other side is the culture that we find ourselves in today the darkness the confusion the chaos and that the father is holding back his judgment holding back his justice holding back his wrath but it's not just that he's holding back the other side of his hand the other side of his arm he's protecting he's separating he's keeping us away from brothers I pray and I continue to pray for our culture and for abortion and all of these we're going to talk about some of these issues in a moment but I think the Lord is going to give us as a culture what the culture asks for I think we will reap what we sow and we will sow what we reap and it's not to say that I don't believe in the power of prayer and that God can do amazing things because I do but I also believe in a God who is going to give us what we ask for as a culture oddly enough I find myself reflecting on the words of Thomas Jefferson if you've been to the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC he says I fear for our country at the thought of a God who is just and a God who cannot hold back his justice forever and that was 200 and how many years ago and that's this image I have of the Lord's arm and in one sense holding back his justice but he won't and can't hold it back forever and what that's creating in our world in the world that we're getting exactly what we're asking for is absolute chaos it's almost like it's returning before God gives order to the world and in this chaos that isn't going on in the world that that's what we're getting back to is radical confusion radical disintegration but interestingly enough I think what we're seeing is we're literally seeing evil fight against evil and what the Lord is doing is he's protecting us he's holding back his arm and if we hide in the shadow of his wing the Lord will protect us 1st 2 Timothy says the time will come when the people will not tolerate sound doctrine but following their own desires in insatiable curiosity they will stop listening to the truth and they will be diverted to myths I think that that's I mean when I pray and I see and we look at what's going on in our culture I think that's exactly what we're seeing I remember what John Paul said when he was in St. Louis he said that when you separate truth from freedom the very moral fabric of society begins to unravel when truth is separated from freedom when truth becomes the ability to do whatever anybody wants and whatever is true for you is true for you doesn't matter what that is doesn't matter if it contradicts everything else if you believe it to be true then it's true when you separate that from freedom when freedom is the ability to do whatever you want to do the very moral fabric of society begins to unravel and I suggest that's exactly what we're seeing a radical separation of truth and freedom and the very society's beginning to unravel so how do we see this we see it all around us so help us shine a light on this we see it in human life and the dignity and the value and the beauty of human life the next real issue that we're going to see and we're beginning to see it as is the assisted suicide a quote from the leading proponent of assisted suicides says a person should be able to choose if it will free them from any unhappiness I'd have been toast a long time ago huh to free us from any unhappiness but I suggest brothers that that's where we're going to see the battle in the next 10, 15, 20 years as we're seeing an aging population as we're seeing health care increase increase we're going to see an increase in assisted suicide human life in general attack against women I remember reading an article and it said woman will not truly be free until she is freed from the shackles of childbirth until she is free from the shackles of childbirth to think that the the debate over contraception in the government today is merely a matter of contraception it's an assault against women and as Mary shared the other night Adam wasn't standing at the post I mean how is it that the evil one was able to get to Eve because Adam wasn't standing the post and now we have a full out attack against women and often times brothers men are silent and we use language and the culture uses language like freedom and they totally bastardized these words and we're going to continue to see the culture get what it asks for amen we see a radical as we know we see a radical fight against family and against the sacrament of marriage headline in the Pittsburgh newspaper last week father marries his son here's the situation two guys wanted to get married because it provided them some advantages tax purposes and all that but it was against a lot to get married in Pennsylvania so one adopted the other so now you get the tax advantages of being a family so these two guys that were in a relationship adopted one adopted the other even though we were lovers but they thought this would be a great way now that gay marriage is actually legal he's married his son is it just me or is that strange it's not just me good good good they will begin to tolerate they will not tolerate sound doctrine but they will follow their own desires and their curiosities they will stop listening to the truth and they will be diverted to myths this isn't simply an assault against marriage between man and woman it's an assault against marriage I mean if we think that this is going to stop just between man and woman man and man woman it's not it's going to get more complicated than that and on one level I fully expect the Supreme Court next week to come out and legalize gay marriage I just don't see how it's not going to do that so what it provides for us is teachable moments that over the last probably year when I speak of marriage I speak of Christian marriage government can call what they want it's not Christian marriage so an activist speaking against marriage says I have three kids who are from five parents more or less I don't know what that means more or less but he says I have three kids from five parents more or less and I don't see why they shouldn't have five parents legally I met my new partner and she had just had a baby and that baby's biological father is my brother and my daughter's biological father is a man who lives in Russia and my adopted son also considered him as his father so the five parents break down into two groups or three really I would like to be able to live as a legal system capable of reflecting this new reality and I don't think that's compatible with the institution of marriage so marriage should be destroyed it's not simply an attack it's an attack against the fundamental nature of marriage and the need to have marriage in our society amen it's a fundamental war and what we're seeing more and more and we've spoke about this several times is it's a battle against men presenting men as being non-important again we've talked about this before in the past take a look at most sitcoms and how are men represented in most sitcoms is idiots you know it's just idiots huh there's a latin saying that some of you probably know I only know it in English but the corruption of that which is best is worst Louis de Monfort would speak but the corruption of that which is best is worst so if we can corrupt marriage if we can corrupt manhood if we can corrupt family it becomes the worst and particularly with our theme this week I think that we see that in this relationship with father I mean it's interesting the spirit comes upon us and what we cry out is Abba what we cry out is daddy the spirit causes us to cry out daddy if we can mess that up that fundamental idea of father if we can mess that up and cause confusion and anxiety and frustration and chaos in the idea of father there's a woman by the name of Heather Bartwick she's a mother of four she was raised by two lesbian women she says my father's absence created a huge hole in me and I ached every day for a dad I loved my mom's partner but another mom could never have replaced the father that I lost I grew up surrounded by women who said that I didn't need or want a man yet as a little girl I so desperately wanted a daddy it's a strange and confusing thing to walk around with this deep down unquenchable ache for a father for a man in a community that says men are not necessary gay marriage doesn't just define marriage it defines parenting it promotes and normalizes a family structure that necessarily denies us something that is precious and foundational a dad it denies us something we need and we long for well at the same time tells us that we don't need what we naturally crave that we will be okay but we're not we're not okay we're hurting just this beautiful reflection of this woman's experience of being raised in a couple with a couple, a lesbian couple but then the other side is true well someone would say well then two gay men I mean great you've got two fathers huh? but I consider both confusing I mean the image you have of a woman somebody being raised with no father she's just always looking looking for something to fill that void in that emptiness and you just have this image of her searching the empty but a person being raised with two fathers we have a father we have a father and that father satisfies that and she so much more beautifully stated that we fundamentally desire and have an ache and an emptiness for that and yet our culture tells us and is telling us that it's not necessary that what is really only necessary is love by their own definition of love amen? so we're finding other texts again what we're doing we're looking at the culture we're seeing what does the father see what do we see when we look at our culture today huh? this is a quote you probably heard recently because it's been in the news now she believes that those who question her identity don't understand how it works that her self definition is the only thing that matters and who said that? Bruce Jenner, Kate Led Jenner, no Rachel Dolazelle Rachel Dolazelle is the gal who identifies herself as black she's was the head of the NAACP in Spokane, Washington and she identifies herself as black I've had maybe a week to give this some thought in reflection for those of you who maybe aren't familiar she was the head of the NAACP in Spokane, Washington she there's this interview they're talking with her and they ask this question they ask her are you an African-American and she says well what do you mean by the question? that's not a tricky question well as it turns out there's photos that come up that she's white her mom's white her dad's white she's she looks black when you look at her she says those who question my identity don't understand how it works that her self definition is the only thing that matters she goes on to say when I was young drawing self portraits I used brown crayons instead of peach crayons she's being accused of lying being deceitful saying that she here's some of the quotes that are being placed out there and they're making obviously comparisons because she stated that she feels some sympathy and some connectedness to Bruce Jenner because Bruce Jenner said that this is how we felt and she's saying the same thing that she's felt like since she was a little girl like she was black now this is what I was saying that I think what we're seeing is is one sense evil fighting against evil she's hijacked the conversation about transgendered people says Maudi Mills an activist we were having a very important conversation in America about transgendered issues thanks to Caitlyn Jenner and here comes Rachel Dozel and she just sucks up all the oxygen in the room another woman says as a black lesbian who spent my professional life working on advocacy and expanding the dialogue on transgendered issues this is extremely offensive to me another person says it's not just offensive look at this it's not just offensive it defies logic this is a writer she said transgendered transitioning is really hard this is a therapist says being transgendered is not a choice but lying about your race is deliberate this is from a therapist if she were coming to my office I would definitely want to explore the reasons why she wasn't transparent about her identity and then maybe in this crazy world a voice of reason let her be black woman she's not hurting anyone but what we're seeing is utter chaos that somebody who is promoting transgender saying that what she is saying what this black woman is saying defies logic but what I'm proposing this transgender that this woman was that doesn't defy logic we are seeing evil compete against evil and chaos compete against chaos and I think the lord is just holding back his arm and letting us protecting us and as a culture and as a people allowing us to have exactly what we asked for the challenge for us brothers is to be on the right side of that arm is to being allowing the lord to protect and to defend and to bring light and to bring order and to bring peace and to bring presence when we think about and take a look at what the lord is doing in the church again Jesus says I can only do what I see the father so what do we see the father doing in the church huh we see him purifying and we've experienced that brothers and each month or each year I say okay well maybe this is the year that we're coming out of that and I don't know but it's fundamentally scriptural and it's fundamentally the way the lord works in his people and his church is through pruning he does it in me and the day that I stop experiencing that pruning is probably the day that I'm not seriously going before the lord and say I feel pruned fine I feel fine and Pope Francis says that as soon as we feel comfortable something's wrong in our spiritual life so the church is experiencing this pruning experiences this purifying but what's happening with that is the church is becoming more pure it's like Dr. Bergsmann said the other day the church is becoming smaller fine so be it because a lot of these people they were not being a blessing to the church they're being the source of disunity or a source of a lack of faith or a source of disruption so we pray for this purification but we pray that we're on the right side of it amen the lord is also the father is bringing clarity and he's confirming in the church the lines are being drawn and it's becoming more and more clear in our world the craziness it's it's not as hard to be a light in the midst of the darkness anymore because the world is becoming so dark we don't have to be that much light to shatter that but we do need to be the light and we do need to be able to speak the truth and for that we need courage and we need grace the other thing and it's why I did this project what I see the what the lord doing is is pouring forth his Holy Spirit in a new way and in a profound way I titled this project what it's gonna be it's gonna be a 14 part series on the on the Holy Spirit and it's called the wild goose the ancient Celts called the Holy Spirit the wild goose not this domesticated dove but a wild goose not exactly sure what the goose is gonna do amen Pope Francis says we ought not to try to tame the Holy Spirit but I think we try to tame the Holy Spirit and we like the idea of the Holy Spirit as a flame as long as it's a candle but if it's a raging fire it scares the crap out of us and the first thing we see a raging fire is we want to control it and the Holy Spirit was never supposed to be controlled it was always supposed to be a raging fire and I'm seeing as I'm traveling across the the country pockets of blessings and Holy Spirit being anointed and people experiencing new profound experiences of the presence of God their own experience of Pentecost and you can see this taking place and we need to be able to fan that flame the other thing that I think we're seeing is mercy the Holy Father spoke when he speak of the year Jubilee of mercy he says Jesus Christ is the face of the Father's mercy and these words might well sum up the mystery of the Christian faith. Mercy has become the living invisible living invisible in Jesus of Nazareth this year of mercy is the great blessing I think that the Holy Father is given to us that particularly my guess is as Dias is in clergy maybe you guys have heard more of this we have not spoken to it except I raised the issue with my provincial the special blessing that has been given to priests to be what's the term that they use missionaries of mercy and the bishop is allowing priests to ask for this special blessing to be a missionary of mercy that allows the priests to be able to absolve sins that were hold only for the Holy See the Holy Father says that the church's maternal solitude would make we priests in confession missionaries of mercy that is specially selected priests who have been granted the authority to pardon even those sins reserved to the Holy See the priests will be chosen on the basis of their ability to preach well but also on ability to speak to mercy that they would be good confessors that they would make the confessional a place of mercy rather than a torture chamber that they would be patient that they would have an understanding of human frailty I mean that's a special blessing in grace that the Holy Father is giving to us and then when I look upon this is what is radically needed and what the Father is beginning to do is pour forth his mercy upon us and the amazing thing is what opens up that door of mercy is our brokenness and our sin and it's the only thing that can open up that God's mercy doesn't shower upon us because I'm so good because I'm so talented because I'm so great because I'm so wonderful rather it's quite the opposite it's because of my brokenness and it's because of my sinfulness and by grace to go before the Lord he showers that mercy upon me it's the only thing that's going to unlock the door to mercy and when I look upon and I look out on the church I see a people that desperately need mercy and that this year of mercy the church and the Holy Father and I believe the Father God is allowing us and inviting us to be agents of that mercy I mean where are you seeing the Father work? Where are you seeing God in your particular ministry? Do we even have eyes that can see or are we so busy and so consumed that all we see is the desk in front of us and we don't take a step back and look upon this terrain and say okay God what are you doing here what do you want me to do what's something new I mean I've said this before but I think sometimes we operate out of a grace that's 40 years old what do you want me to do today Lord what do you want me to do tomorrow but oftentimes we don't look at that and we don't see what God is doing so when Jesus says I can only do what I see the Father doing do we see what the Father is doing I've asked a couple of people we're going to have a deacon Dan right? Yeah why don't you come on I just asked Dan to speak for a moment or two what he sees how he sees God working in his seminary and I need the mic if Dan can come up just what he sees God doing in the seminary for a moment Hello? Great you can hear me Father Dave makes this look so easy I am scared to speak before the assembly but I'll try my best what I see going on in the seminary well I attended sorry my name is Deacon Daniel Kingsley I'm a seminary for the diocese of Brooklyn and by God's grace I'll be a priest June 28th so please in your kindness pray for me and I attended St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers New York for the past three years and what I see there is that God is trying to make evident to us the needs of his church the needs of his people very often in seminary we can be instant in the trap of oh the liberals are fighting the conservatives are fighting should we do this in Latin should we do this in the vernacular should we do this praise and worship song and very often the fight in seminary would sometimes evolve into that but God in his grace God in his mercy through the Holy Spirit how do we best serve the people of God who are hungry for God how do we best serve the people who one day will cause father in the parishes and how do we one day stand before God and ask and answer the question have you served my kingdom have you served my church the best of your ability and I remember there was a time in my seminary formation which I was scared like nobody's business I was going how do I phrase this a year away from the act and I was thinking to myself did I have any business to go before the go before the faculty and say I believe I'm a good candidate for holy orders let me sign the paperwork and I was thinking to myself no no and by the way oh hell no and what happened was that my good friend who's now priest Father Evans I told him all this my fears my concerns and Father Evans said Daniel would you want me to pray over you and at that point I was not the idea of the charismatic the idea of charismatic prayer left me uneasy because I'm thinking to myself I don't speak in tongues I'm not going to fall over I just don't know about this but I figured you know what prayer is prayer so what's the worst that could happen so Father Evans and two other seminarians we went to the chapel and they prayed over me and at that particular moment I felt God's grace telling me that okay Daniel you may feel unworthy you may feel overwhelmed you may feel stressed but if you believe that I'm calling you to this I'll give you the grace I'll give you the skills necessary to feed my sheep to go out there preach the word and to exercise Christian charity and that made things a little more easier that they made things comfortable that know what I'm not perfect I fall short of the mark my dear friend Jose who's back there speaking Jose from my dice as well will tell you that I am the king of procrastination I'm probably the only guy in the history of the seminary to finish an MA thesis I think five minutes before the due hour MA cum laude how I don't know but anyway that may God work through broken vessels God works through broken instruments and strengthens them or as a friend of mine seminary we also offer in mind in Jose as well that God does not call the qualified he qualifies the called and in your kindness to end I ask you God I ask all of you fathers deacons to pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and as we've spoken up here these past few days the idea of fatherhood fatherhood entails propagation more of in that in your own parishes in your own diocese encourage men to consider calls to the priesthood because I wouldn't be standing here today if a priest in high school didn't invite me further to the seminary I wouldn't be here if a priest if Father Gannon didn't encourage me to consider the priesthood and stick to it so please in your own diocese invite men to stick to it to invite them to the priest and tell them that it's worth it thank you and it's my understanding that a deacon is also going to share if you want to just come and share what you see the Father doing what you see God doing as a deacon as well sure I'm supposed to share what I see what the Holy Spirit is doing in the world and what's going on in the world and Father Dave covered everything right I was also thinking that you better pray that your provincial your your T.O.R. right so you'll be third ordered retired so I was thinking well what's going on what's going on in the world what's going on in the nation what's going on with us here and I first thought about what's going on in the world in the early 80s I was at a meeting with an agency that will remain unnamed and they had a study that predicted that the Soviet Union would fall by 1992 well it fell in 1988 so they were when as optimistic as they should have been but they predicted it but they did not predict that the next world struggle would be over religion who would have predicted that a few years ago right 20 years ago 10 years ago who would have predicted that we look at the world and I had two sons in Iraq and they were involved in everything certainly kept their mother and father on their knees and who would have predicted that struggle but we look at the United States and we're fighting about religious freedom in the United States of America our founding fathers had set that test and here we are again and what is going on that we should have to fight over this in Europe what's happening with our faith in Europe and what's happening with our faith in the country and we talk about that a lot you know and we are getting away from the truths of our faith and even with our people I think the Pope is right that we're going through a pruning period and he said that in tough times saints are made and Archbishop Shapu quoted the late cardinal of Chicago saying that he fully expected to die in bed but he expected his successor to die in prison possibly and his successor to be martyred for the faith are we willing to be martyred for our faith where are we where are we personally I believe we don't live for ourselves it's not about me and I ask myself do I love Jesus am I in love with Jesus yeah I love Jesus, I love the Holy Spirit I love the Father but am I in love with Jesus my 16 year old is so in love with the other that he just lives for the other am I in love with Jesus and if I in love with Jesus I'll be in love with my wife in love with my children in love with the people that I meet and it's not about me and if I don't say three rosaries a day it's not about me and if I somehow forget about morning prayer I'm sorry but it's not about me and it isn't even really about me going to heaven it's about me being in love with Jesus I was concerned about coming this week because I have to preach this weekend several masses next week the youth group is going away and I was asked to go with them and I couldn't do both and my wife said you got to go I said you mean with the youth group she said no to Steubenville you got to go I said why because it renews you it renews you it reinvigorates you it's like pumping life support into your veins you got to go and as a deacon let me say a couple of things what I think is happening in the church with this pruning I did a little research and in the 1960s there were 60,000 Catholic priests in the United States it's now about 40,000 in the 60s there were like zero permanent deacons and it's now about 18,000 is that a coincidence us deacons do not want to be priests or many priests we are no threat to the priesthood we love our priests we are servants we're ordained table waiters that's who we are and we love you and we want to support you and we want to use you in any way possible so if you don't like the finance committee give it to a deacon hey if you don't want to get out there and ask for money tell a deacon to ask for money I don't mind begging for Jesus I don't mind it we love you we want to support you we're here for you I think it's a work of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit finally Franciscan University is a blessing and my parish back in Maryland we have a community of Franciscan graduates do you know any of the Nortons dear dear and we even have some that are moving into old town Maryland so that they can be with their brothers and sisters from Franciscan University and my own daughter and son-in-law has gotten involved with these 20s and 30s family something and has gotten reinvigorated in her faith and that's what's happening with our young couples all of a sudden they have a rosary group they have a mums prayer group the men are meeting at 6 a.m. on Saturday morning to share with one another and to hold each other accountable and then they go to 8 o'clock mass and then they're there to bring their kids to soccer and baseball and everything right so the university has been a blessing and I see the university students out there taking over ministries our Rachel project and our Gabriel project and they're taking over these ministries coincidental no it's not coincidental the work of the Holy Spirit the work of Franciscan University and I thank father father for that now I know father's looking at me I was told that I had 4 or 5 was it 45 minutes so I will turn it over to father and we will pray that you don't become a third order retired I'm 50 now so that's alright thank you D. can I appreciate it okay let's pray brothers first we Lord we thank you and bless you for what you're doing in the seminary because we pray for a peace there Lord that the divisions would come down and those walls would come down allow them a unanimity of mind and heart that they really do respond to the hunger and the thirst of the people of God we pray too for all the deacons Lord that you continue to shower your blessing upon them that you would raise them up and that they would be lights and instruments of service we pray that we would be radically dependent on you that your Holy Spirit would fall upon us and we would cry out Abba Father that we would grow in our relationship and our depth our intimacy with you close with a note that I received on my door in the friary yesterday it's just a from a religious sister here she says dear brother and the Lord we pray in the good fight until the end for you are the Father's love for us and we are all healed by that love Heavenly Father may we be healed by your love may we be united to you by your love and may we be a healing presence in the world that so desperately needs you we make this prayer in your name Jesus Amen God bless us the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit