 Somebody say praise the Lord I Want to say dr. Ryan Anderson. Thank you that that's the most cogent analysis. I've heard yet about this Unusual new thing that's come. Yeah, and Hmm, and you give us hope because you as dr. Han so beautifully said you're an apostle of common sense And we've got to we've just got to stay Constantly going back to common sense, and I want to give you all a little bit of hope to remember something too You're in the right place first of I look out at you all and I'm encouraged because I feel a little bit like Elijah Sometimes and I know some of you do too Elijah got real scared one day says I'm the only one left he's hide out in the cave. It's just me Lord I'm the only one left and the Lord says Elijah cut that out. I got seven I got seven thousand people back there in Jerusalem that never bent the need of Baal And I want you to go minister to them, and I want you to appoint a successor prophet We are not done yet. All right. Amen, right? And you know the church has seen a lot come and go in 2,000 years I'm gonna just tell you right now you we have seen a lot come and go, you know Nations have risen and fallen empires have come and gone all in the age of the church heresies and Confusion and sysms and all these things have come and gone all in the age of the church Yes, still we're here still preaching still proclaiming sometimes from jail, but we're still preaching the gospel And I want you to know that you know, where is Caesar now? You know, where's where is Napoleon now? Where are some of those less than holy Roman emperors now? Where where is the Soviet Socialist Republic now? Those who announced that they would bury us we ended up reading the funeral rites over them And we're still here preaching the gospel so again In times like these there's only one solution preach preach preach preach preach and just keep preaching St. Paul wrote to Timothy's and Timothy come on preach the gospel in season and out of season convinced rebuke console fulfill your ministry fulfill your ministry and so it is that that's for all of us amen just keep Preaching reach every soul that you can amen, and I want to talk about a Way that we need to I think maybe improve on and not you all are above average first of all I'm talking a little bit to the choir here. Are you all a little bit above average and what I'm about to talk about But I want to talk about Becoming witnesses to the normal Christian life. What's our overall theme? Christ the power and the wisdom of God Christ the power and the wisdom of God now. How many of you know that Christ has a power in your life? See now I thought you might jump to your feet and say amen preacher. Is there something wrong? Is this not working? You know hesitant we are sometimes to say listen brothers and sisters If you've really met the Lord Jesus Christ, you can't go away unchanged He's working in your life, and you know that he's the power and the wisdom of God You've and I say no, I don't just mean intellectually. No, I mean it like the biblical knowing and experiential knowing I'm a changed man since I met Jesus Are you a changed person? How's he working in your life? What's he doing in your life? brothers and sisters scripture is Not simply some slogan Scripture is a prophetic Declaration of reality and one of the things scripture says is that if anyone is in Christ he she is a new creation a new creation We've got to get in touch with how that's happening in our life and then become witnesses to others see one of the dangers is that We're content to quote saints who are content to quote other people We heard an interesting thing at a talk and we'll quote well. I heard so-and-so say I heard a tape by Dr. Scott Hahn and he says this and okay, okay, but there has to come a moment in your life When you can say yes, the scripture says my pastor says my mother said Dr. Hahn says but there has to come a point in your life when you have to raise up your hand and say and I say And I also say I had my amen That everything that the church teaches and proclaims and teaches down through the centuries is true because in the laboratory of my own life I've come to find that it's true I've tested in the laboratory of my life and I know that it's true that sacraments work that prayer works that that Getting to mass and praying works. I Know it because it's changing my life Do you have a testimony? So let's talk for a minute about what does it mean to be a witness and And what do we mean by this normal Christian life or this this transformative Christian life Well, first of all, what does it mean to be a witness? To be a witness means that you are able to testify to what you yourself have seen and heard and experienced Now go with me to a courtroom And let's say that you're in the witness stand and you've been sworn in and one of the attorney says to you Did you see such-and-so do so-and-so did you see so-and-so do such-and-so to so-and-so and you go, um, I think so That's not like a witness Yeah, why don't you get off the stand you're making our case worse here. Did you see what did you see it happen? Um, I think so Well, let's try another example. So there you are you're in the witness box and You know you you say did you they ask you the same question. Did you see, you know such-and-so happen? Well that guy over there told me no, no, I don't know what that guy said. I don't know what you saw with that lady over there Uh-uh, okay. I'll tell you what you get off the stand. Let's get that other man sworn in. Let's get that other lady over here You see a witness Says what they themselves have seen and heard So here's a witness. You're in the witness box. You raise your right hand. You've been sworn in and They ask you a question. Did you see so-and-so do such-and-so to so-and-so and you said yes, and I'll swear to it That's a witness Yes, and I'll swear to it and see the Lord doesn't just want us to Repeat what other people have said he wants you in the laboratory of your own life To know and get to know him and what he's doing in your life so that you can personally testify That Jesus Christ is alive and well and he's changing my life My life will never be the same because Jesus Christ has died for me and risen that the power of the cross to put Sin to death and bring grace alive in my life is True because it's happening in my life And so it is that we I think as Catholics are not as good at that as others being witnesses You know, I think that There's a lot of traditions that would even people sometimes come up and they give testimonies Here's what the Lord is doing in my life And those who've been in the Protestant churches know that some of those stories get a little exaggerated I was the worst of sinners. I was no worse than me and Jesus save me now. I'm just perfect from top to bottom False and others I can see but praise the Lord. There's none in me You know, no, it could be a little exaggeration, right? But no, you see what to be honest. Look, what is Jesus Christ doing in your life? No, most of you are faithful to getting to Mass every Sunday and maybe even more often and you're praying and you're studying your faith And you're reading scripture So what's that doing in your life? How's it changing? How's it changing you? I promise you it is now the devil wants to take away the knowledge But I promise you it is Now what is the normal Christian life? Now when I say normal, I don't mean statistical normal that almost everybody gets here I'm talking about normative normal The the life that Jesus Christ died to give you what is it? First of all, it is to be in a life-changing transformative relationship with Jesus Christ is to be in living Conscious contact with the Lord all throughout your day That's the normal Christian life When I was a younger man, I could go for days sometimes weeks without ever thinking of God That's not normal. You might say I was I Wasn't so much running a temperature. I was my body temperature had tanked, right? The normal Christian life is to be powerfully aware of the Lord every day and joyfully aware what he's doing in my life And even in the struggles and the difficulties that I'm going through that somehow I know Lord that even my struggles are producing good things for me for the Bible said I did check it this morning Y'all I looked it up just to make sure that the Holy Spirit had not blotted out the text It is still in Romans 8 in verse 28 that all things work together for good for those who love and trust the Lord That's still in their church so that even the difficult things even the painful things in your life somehow they work for your good You've got a testimony, don't you? Hmm, I think so Brothers and sisters we've got to get better at being witnesses We got to get in touch with the normal Christian life, right? Which again, let me just Reviews some qualities of it. All right, I'm gonna read you some scriptures in a minute to fill it in but It's to be in a life changing Transformative relationship with God with the Lord It's to be in living conscious contact With the Lord throughout your day Aware of his presence knowing what he's doing for you and having a powerful sense of it is to be seeing our lives Dramatically changed and transformed by the power of the cross to put sin to death and to bring virtues and graces alive Is to know the Lord not just know about him You know the difference, right? Do you know do you know the Lord or you just know about him? You've heard what somebody else said about him, you know sadly for too many people God is really a stranger They don't really know him personally they've heard about him Sometimes they call out to him, but he's sort of a stranger up there. That's not the normal Christian life The normal Christian life is to powerfully encounter the presence of the Lord in moments like this In mass Throughout the day in the beauty of creation and yes, even in the painful crosses and difficulties To know his abiding presence and the glory of his truth to be like a light shining in dark days Is to know that and treasure it and be powerfully aware of what it's doing for you You see again How could it be though that the Lord would die on the cross for us and that so many of us would still be struggling with a kind of a tepid spirituality sort of a mediocre moral life boredom and worldliness and so forth is that the best that the death of the Son of God can do for you That we should be like let me just soldier on and just hope I get into heaven barely Okay, well But is that the best at the death of the Son of God can do for you don't you think it could do something a little better To give you joy and give you enthusiasm and and bring you alive with confidence and serenity joy So again, you see brothers and sisters we we need to look for and have high expectations of the life that the Lord died to give us and I'm not that convinced that many people do have high expectations of Their Catholic and Christian life It's more of a soldiering on let's hope things aren't that bad and let's hope things get a little better and maybe I'll make it into heaven Okay, well if that's all you got go with it, okay But I want you know, I'm a witness that the Lord can do more for you Let me give you a little bit of my background, you know, I was raised a very traditional Catholic like many of you and I Among other things I love the old Latin mass. I'm I've been celebrating it for all 30 years of my priesthood I was back for an under the first end all you know, I mean, you know and So I was able to do I was one of the designated priests back in the days when you had to celebrate it quietly in a back room somewhere Okay, but so I love that tradition But I've also had another experience in my life where I've been in largely African-American parishes and I want you all to know It's a wonderful joyful experience to be in an African-American parish. They're very serious about their worship And they have high expectations You walk into an African-American parish on Sunday morning and there's something called the hum There's an energy in the room. People say we're gonna get a word today from the Lord He's gonna say he's gonna speak through your preachers. I hope so hope so pray for me, you know But there's joyful singing the choir begins and we don't stop singing till the spirit says stop and There's a high expectation of the preaching moment the word and also to receive the living God so my heart's filled with joy and I learned I've learned so much to expect and to have high Expectation so much of the music sings of liberation and sings of joy in the Lord and a freedom a Freedom that the world didn't give and the world can't take away And so much of that I think the thing I love about gospel music is that it's all about God. It's almost never about us It's all about God And so I I've had that influence and over the years I've been very very aware of the powerful powerful work of the Lord in the liturgy To save and set me free and I've been trained to have high expectations of what the Lord can do for me Now do you? Do you I Like you have been through difficulties, but I've also been delivered out of those difficulties I've had difficult painful times in my life In my mid-30s. I was had a nervous breakdown. I was in the psych ward for a whole week. I Hit the wall I was sent to a parish to be a pastor as a young priest and I wasn't ready and I was overwhelmed and I just had panic attacks I couldn't I just couldn't stop I just couldn't sleep for days and on and I so I was hospitalized It was the worst moment in my life, and it was the best moment in my life You know was right in the right place They sent me back to the parish where I'd come from the holy comforter of my parish where I am still now and Those folks they said whoa, we're gonna have to pray for him and they surrounded me And they prayed for me and they sang for me and they said it's gonna be all right It's gonna be all right pastor It's gonna be all right and they prayed and they sang me back to health I always stand before my people now and I say to them for you for you I am your pastor with you. I am your brother, but from you. I'm your son Because you've so formed me spiritually over these years. I feel like you've raised me up I always say at the folks there that says that they took me in they trained me up and they turned me out When I say turn me out it don't mean sent me out somewhere else But I mean they you know you know say and Augustine says that we're in cravatis and say where we're sort of turned in on Ourself because of sin and one of the goals is to be turned out toward God and toward others giving and receiving love to be a man a woman for others and Define such joy in loving and serving God And I've learned to have high expectations And you know after many years of psychotherapy, but also spare prayer spirituality spiritual direction Deliverance ministry all these things my own prayer. I want you to know. I'm almost never anxious about things anymore It's gone. I've been delivered And I've seen so many positive things come alive and more serene and more confident and more joyful I Have gifts that I never knew I had and now I use them And so I can only just say thank you Lord And I've learned to just know that I'll just say a quote a gospel song here I'm not what I want to be but I'm not what I used to be I Am not what I want to be but I am not what I used to be a change a change has come over me There's so many beautiful things that we sing about in gospel music about deliverance And there's so many ways of just being excited about you know What the Lord's doing in our life one of the songs that we sing in my church and many a Sunday is Just says he's done so much for me. I cannot tell at all. I cannot tell at all old brothers and sisters So beauty is a song you have to kind of dance while you sing he's done so much for me anyway Another song just says these are old gospel songs, you know great change since I've been born There's been a great change since I've been born Hmm places. I used to go. I don't go no more things. I used to do I don't do it no more because there's a great change since I've been born Another song says when I look back over my life, and I think things over I can truly say that I've been blessed I've got a testimony. I've got a testimony another old song just says I was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore Deep very deeply staying within and sinking to rise no more But the master of the sea heard my despairing cry and from the waters lifted me and now safe am I Love lifted me when nothing else could help Love Lifted me You see there's some of those old hymns and things really train people and how to testify and to some degree We don't sing a lot of those kinds of songs. I saw we sang some of them tonight speaking about how the Lord's delivered us We've got to learn and internalize those songs, but to use them as kind of a model a model Another one is a famous I actually put a whole catechetical program around the opening lines of this song I once was lost in sin, but Jesus took me in and then a little light from heaven filled my heart He bathed my heart in love and wrote my name above and just a little talk with Jesus made me whole These are these are ways that we can train and giving some testimony You know, I can only just say and I'm so powerfully aware now One of the greatest gifts God has given me in more recent times is just this immense gratitude I am so grateful to God For what he's done for me. I'm just so grateful And you know grateful people are different, you know every Sunday at mass Jesus says something to you He says remember Sometimes I think it's right now in our current translation do this in memory of me What does it mean to remember? You know the Greek idea there is an amnesis, right? It's not just some intellectual fact you have filed on the back of your brain, but rather it is that something Something ancient is made present to you now That's what we do in every mass the power of the cross and his resurrection is made present to us in every mass And so Jesus has a critical thing to all of us in every mass He says remember Do this in memory of me. What does it mean to remember? to remember means to have so Present to my mind and heart what God has done for me So that I'm grateful and different Grateful people are different people. They're more generous. They're more kind They're less anxious or less fearful, you know think about the last time you were really grateful excited about something Somebody asked you for 20 bucks you gave him you gave him 40, you know There's just something about gratitude as a doorway To immense change in our life. I think that's what we call it the holy Eucharist the holy Thanksgiving The Lord says never forget what I've done for you Always have present to your mind and your heart what I've done for you so that you are grateful and that you're different Now I'm asking you. Are you a witness? It's too easy for us just to recite formulas And what other people have said quoting the saints quoting the scripture? Please do those are good things and by the way, don't ever form your own religion It's bad for other people and you'll go to hell, okay? But What I'm asking you when it comes to making our testimonies what we're testifying to is this I Got my right hand raised now Everything that the scriptures say and declare and everything that the church has taught down through the centuries is true Because in the laboratory of my own life. I have tested it and I found that it's true My life is changing my my my whole life is different because I've given my life to the Lord and because of the sacraments now A lot of parents come to me and they say father. I sent my kid to Catholic school I sent them to I tried to give him everything and none of them go to church now. What am I supposed to do now? You know back when I was a kid my mom could talk to me like this I say maybe it's a holy day comes along and we're going to church today Well, I want to go to church today. Why are we gonna go to church today and the answer was it's a rule Oh, okay. It's a rule And we got we got already go to church now the argument from authority may have carried some weight Before the cultural revolution of the of the 60s, right? But now the fact that it's a rule is even another additional reason not to do it, right? So what are you gonna do to get your kids back to church? So here's my question to all of you and Mike the way I say to some of the folks of my own parish How am I gonna get my kids to go to church? Well, why do you go to church? What do you get out of it? Maybe I feel less guilty. I checked off the box, you know check off the God box Why do you go to mass? Do you have a testimony? Now look, I'll tell you why I go to mass. You go father. You got to go to mass. You're a priest Okay, but I want you to know why I really go to mass. I go to mass Because when I walk in there, I'm in God's house and Jesus Christ puts on priestly robes and he walks the aisle of my church and He goes to the he goes to the altar. He goes to the altar and he greets me and He listens to me and he speaks a word to me and he ministers to me and he feeds me with his body and blood And I'm filled with joy That's why I go to mass Why do you go to mass? Is that why you go to mass? I go to mass to encounter Jesus Christ He puts on priestly robes and he ministers to me He speaks a word to me that changes my heart that answers my questions that gives me healing and grace and then he takes his Ordinary bread and wine he turns it into his own body and blood and he feeds me with his own body and blood I can't begin to tell you what a difference that's made in my life brothers and sisters I'll continue on with my testimony for the first 20 some years in my life I would say I was not very spiritual once I finally entered the seminary I want you to know I pray every day for at least an hour I get to confession once a week get to mass every day I read God's Word every day, and I walk in holy fellowship, and I want you to know I'm a changed man Now I'm not what I want to be But I'm not what I used to be I got a long way to go, but he's brought me a mighty long way a mighty long way. I'm more confident I'm more joyful. I'm more serene. I'm happier My life is more meaning and purpose and even my sufferings. I understand them now In a way, I never did before Even in difficult and dark days. I feel sustained by the Lord Well, that's why I go Now I'm just trying to model for you what it sounds like to testify I want you to know let's just get back to our children for a minute parents grandparents great grandparents Your children are hungry to hear something like that from you We Catholic had a bad attitude we don't talk about religion in the house We leave that to the priest and the nuns over there at the church really And again dear do your children know how much you love the Lord and how good he's been do they know your story? Now dr. Ralph Martin who many of you know and love as you know he teaches at the seminary up in Sacred Heart in Detroit and he He has a little rule for most of the seminarians that he teaches He says I want all of you to put get your testimony together Now I want the three to five minute elevator version all right I don't want the long 25 minute version okay, but he says I want you to put your testimonies together I want to know how you met Jesus Christ and what he's been doing for you and don't give me your vocation story He said because some of you are hiding behind that Your vocation story is important, and I'm glad but I want to know How have you met Jesus Christ and what is he doing in your life, and I want you to be very personal about it And every day they begin class one of them has to stand up and give the three to five minute elevator version a lot of Catholics Are embarrassed to see how they met Jesus Christ or maybe that they they really haven't ever really met him What do you mean met him father? I mean, I don't know I hear about him in a book I mean I I hear about him in the literature. You know, I'm here Listen, if that's the case you need to get underneath and say Lord reveal yourself to me Now he's right in front of you. Yes in every liturgy If you're if you're prepared to accept that he's talking to you right now If if God can speak through Balem's donkey, he can even speak through me All right We've got to sometimes look and it doesn't mean we all have some kind of vision like you know Margaret I'll a cold core, you know, you know sister Faustina or someone wait But but to know that he's present and active in my life and to know how he's doing and what he's doing for me And how my life has changed because I'm walking in this way This is what our world is desperate to hear from us I'm afraid that too often we come across as Catholics more about what we're against than what we're for And that's not always fair. We have to speak out against more evils of our day. Of course we do. We just heard a beautiful talk But we have to also be known what we're for They were for marriage and for family and for chastity and beauty and the innocence of our children that were for temperance and the beautiful gifts of of of being masters over our anger and all the Retribution and where we love forgiveness and mercy and we're joyful to receive back people who have hurt and offended us These are great beautiful things a whole moral vision of the New Testament Is that God can so change your life that you even love your enemy. You might even love your spouse That you can have authority over your thought life that you don't want to divorce your spouse because you love them That you again that I could go on and on the whole sermon on the mount. It is the picture of the transformed Human person. It's not don't do this and don't do that and by gosh. Don't do that No, it's the opposite Jesus is saying do you understand what will happen in your life? When I lay a hold of you and begin to change you by my grace Again the whole sermon on the mount is a picture of the transformed human person They're poor in spirit, whatever that means You know, sometimes you look at the sermon on the mount say oh my gosh, I got to be poor in spirit I got to be meek. I got to be merciful. Oh man. This is hard Let's see. Oh man, let me turn the page and see what else we got here You know me Because you're thinking that out of your own flesh power that you have to accomplish all that That you got to love your enemy that you've got to not retaliate and that you you've got to get married and stay Married and you have to have authority over your thought life and not even an entertain Impure thoughts and and that you need to tell the truth and speak the truth and say yes when you mean yes And no when you mean no and never square falsely and you're like I'm overwhelmed. I'm scared. I can't pull it off Let me just see what's on TV tonight. I Need a drink, you know Because you're thinking that you have to do it. No, this is God's work in you This is the power of grace and the power of the cross to put sin to death and the Lord says when I'm finished with you You're gonna look like this. This is increasingly your life If you will let me live my life in you you will start to see these things come into into place And I'm a witness y'all there are people in my family who hurt me and Somewhere I just woke up one morning and I just felt I had forgiven them and it wasn't my work Now I'm not it took me some years going to Alan on meetings and stuff to let go of some of the hurts I'm not gonna get on all the details. I'm just gonna tell you right now. It is possible To feel powerful forgiveness in your life, and it's not your work. It's God's gift to you It's God saying look I saw everything they did and I promise you if they die unrepentant. They'll answer it to me for it Let's hope they don't But you give it to me now and be free and I'm a witness I've been able to let go of some of these things these things that hurt me deeply. I Hope some of you have experienced the same thing. I Could give you hundreds of examples But I just want you to know that the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus promised to you that increasing your life will be like this If you just let his grace go to work in you and let your life become like a laboratory and say well Lord It says here in this sermon on the mount that That I'm not to divorce my wife But what you're really telling me is that I have the capacity to really love my wife or my husband Lord, let's just try that out. I need some help Help me to really love my spouse with a tender beautiful love that I had when I first laid eyes on them Let's go to work Lord. I need help. I need to love some of my children have disappointed me and I'm angry with some of them You go to the Lord and talk to him Let him go to work in these things. I mean it happened instantly But you go and you talk to him about it and then you when you when you see it happen You make sure you testify about it. I once was lost in sin. There were people I was so hurt and so angry I could never forgive them and now I have and it's not me. It's Jesus and he's been so good to me People have come out of addictions To pornography to alcohol to other drugs They've got testimonies. They stand in rooms and church basements all over this country talking about how they've been set free Why don't we talk more like that? So we've got a testimony to give The Lord's doing something in your life and it's good and it's important for you to get in touch with that and Then see now. Let me read you some scriptures that talk about the normal Christian life And let me remind you that as I read them that scripture is not just a much of slogans Or hallmark sayings that are meant to just make you feel a little better Scripture is a prophetic declaration of reality This is what's really going on. This is what's really possible for you if you will take it seriously. So here we are This is them again. We see the This this particular passages from we actually read it in the breather yesterday second Corinthians chapter 5 and Verse 17 if anyone is in Christ he she is a new creation the old things have passed away and behold all things are made new Is that just a slogan? Or is that a prophetic statement of reality that's available to you if you will just lay hold of it and take it seriously What is new in your life? What are the old things that have been put away and what are the new things that have come alive? This world needs to hear from you and me What those new things are and the old things that you've been able to set aside by the power of God's grace And only by the power of God's grace I love the Lord. He's been so good to me He's done great things in my life old things went away and new things have come alive or again We see in Romans chapter 6 the mini gospel, right? Are you not aware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death and by baptism We were buried together with him so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God the father We too might walk in newness of life. Are you walking in newness of life? How let the Lord anoint you to know what he's done for you He's telling you you walk in newness of life I've taken you out of the kingdom of darkness and I brought you into the kingdom of light What's that doing for you Does it give you clarity? Does it give you joy? Are you in touch with that at all? Remember Satan wants to rob you of this Or again, I'll read another one here from scripture We see that Yeah, the this is from second Corinthians in the third chapter and we who with unveiled faces reflect the Lord's glory are being Transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory that comes from the Lord who is the Spirit again, we are Being transformed into God's likeness with ever increasing glory Is that happening in your life? How what's he doing for you? Are there some sins? He's put to death. Are there some graces. He's brought alive. Maybe a joy. You never thought possible What's what's he doing in your life? These are the questions that we need to ask but you see these are describing the normal Christian life, which is to be in a life-changing Transformative relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I tell you just one example if you are reading scripture faithfully every day meditating upon it Your whole thinking will change The way you think I'm not I don't think in the same way. I did 35 40 years ago before I got serious about my spiritual life. I Have completely different priorities. What I what I value is completely different. I Don't see people the same way. I don't see anything the same way. I see it in a better way in God's way The Lord wants to Allow just transform our minds you just sit with scripture and I promise you a new mind and so a thought reap a deed So a deed reap a habit so a habit reap a character and so a character and reap a destiny It all begins in your mind Get on your knees every day and say Lord speak your servant is listening. I'm a witness. I Am not the man I used to be Because of the word of God just reading that word day in and day out and then receiving the word made flesh and the Eucharist Made every bit of difference in my life so these things are describing the normal Christian life to be in a life-changing transformative relationship with the Lord to be in living Conscious contact with him to be joyfully powerfully aware that he exists that he's active in my life And I can articulate what he's done for me and what he is doing for me and we shine forth as men and women of hope Even in difficult moments, we all go through them. There's deep down. There's a he kindles a fire that never dies away now I Want to say that we just a couple of other things from the liturgy just so you know that even in the liturgy We speak about these things. This is from the Easter preface number four For with the old order destroyed a universe cast down is renewed and integrity of life has been restored to us That is a prophetic declaration of a different life of integrity that's been offered to you in Jesus Christ Or again, this is from the fourth Sunday of Easter Grant we pray oh Lord that we may always find delight in these paschal mysteries so that the renewal Constantly at work within us Maybe the cause of our unending joy Now, you know, here's the danger. You know, you're sitting there at the liturgy and the priest says let us pray You go, huh? And you're tuned out and maybe he's even tuned out Listen to these words again because this was said to you several times during the last Easter season Grant we pray oh Lord that we may always find delight not boredom You know, sometimes you look at a Catholic mass and you think man We had a funeral or a wedding. What are we dealing with here, you know Board believers distracted disciples the frozen chosen, you know the frozen Okay, now look, I don't mean everyone's got to be like, you know, giddy I know that there's a there's a certain party, but I mean do you find your heart alive and joyful or anything? Oh, I gotta remember to get to the store and get some more chicken broth because you know Okay, so okay, so the priest is praying Lord grant that we may always find delight in these Easter mysteries so that the renewal Certainly to work within us. Maybe the source of our unending joy You see the priest who's really Jesus is inviting you to be in touch with the normal Christian life to see your life being changed The renewal constantly at work giving you a joy and a confidence Happy to announce that the Lord's been so good to me And so again, what I would say that if we're going to defend the faith We don't want to we want to master the arguments. We don't just want to win arguments, of course We want to win souls we've heard this but but one of the ways you win souls is not just by overpowering them with information But by showing them the beautiful gift That these truths are changing your life and making you joyful and different And the question is how and that's for you to get on your knees and ask the Lord about Do you have a testimony and what is that testimony? Let me just be dr. Ralph Martin for you right now. I want every one of you To get on your knees and ponder what the Lord's done. I want to find out. How did you meet Jesus Christ? How do you know God the Father and the Holy Spirit and what are they doing in your life and? Give us the three to five minute elevator version But I have a on my blog I have a longer version, you know about a I would call it my my my 20 minute version I also have my three to five minute elevator version and you can go to my blog and find out writing your testimony And you can you can study up on that a little bit. I just want you to know that's my story But you've got your story now every now and again when I talk like this people kind of get sad Because I say man, that's I don't know I don't know if he's done anything for me I've had a miserable life, and I just don't know I feel kind of depressed sometimes you see If that's the case I want you to get back on your knees and say Lord I know that you did not send your son to die for me so that all I could do is be depressed and Bored and not happy with how my life has gone Lord you have been good to me in ways. I don't even know or understand right now Please anoint my mind anoint my heart because I'm in a world Lord that desperately needs to hear how good you are And that your truth is freeing not limiting I've been free to teach me how you have freed me by your law by your truth by the beautiful wisdom Jesus Christ you are the power and the wisdom of God and that wisdom That law that vision is meant to save me and change me and transform me brothers and sisters The word of God doesn't simply inform it performs and it transforms In fact the very word gospel if you get Cardinal Ratz singers book He wrote it as Pope Benedict, but he says I'm just Joe Rastinger here is just my view But so as he didn't write it as the Pope that he was clear to say that But he says that about chapter about page 44 of volume 1 he talks about the the word gospel Evangelion and he says how you know the ancient emperors they They would they would issue these things called Evangelion Which meant you know we translate you know this word Evangelium or Evangelion is good news in modern English But that doesn't really quite get to the depths of what it is. It's richer and deeper than that The word gospel the emperors would let's give me give an example Let's say the emperor says the town crier comes and he reads he says good news good news. The emperor is raising taxes He would say Evangelion Evangelion the emperor is raising taxes now. It's not particularly cheerful news But what it is is it's life-changing Your life is going to be different now because the emperor spoke you got it now He might also come the town crier and say good news good news the emperor is paving the road between here and laodicea Well, that is good news But the point is not so much that it's good or happy or cheerful, but that it's life-changing Now what the emperors falsely claim for themselves is really true here That when the Lord speaks That this word is not so much always cheerful sometimes the Lord may have to say to repent And I love some of those Gospels where we say bring those people who didn't want me to be their king into my presence and slay them in my presence the gospel of the Lord So my only point in saying all that to you is that that It's not necessarily just cheerful always happy or good in that in an immediate sense but what it is is Life-changing it's transformative and that brings you to a place of healing if you will sit with devotion and Reflectively devotedly read the word of God. It will heal you of Deep drives of sin. It will Remove error and confusion, you know, we spend so much of our time majoring in all the miners We maximize the minimum and we minimize the maximum Our light our world is so full of stinking thinking that if you don't clean your mind with the powerful word of God You know your our minds are like a sponge and you put a sponge in dirty water is coming out dirty Don't kid yourself. So how do you clean a dirty sponge? You punch it in the clean water and you ring it out and back into the clean water and you ring it out And the clean water is God's word and the teachings of the church And I promise you promise you promise you I've got my hand I'm swearing it as an oath that if you will do that faithfully spend time each day It'll change your life because it's changed my life My priorities are different. I See people differently. I understand suffering in a way. I never did before. I Understand the beauty and the glory of God as I never did before the human person I could go on and on and on but I simply say to you It'll change your life and many of you are already well aware of this and so I ask you are you able and willing to testify To be joyful witnesses Every now and again, I'll go into the safeway nearby my parish and what's been a traditionally African-American parish And some of you may know the whole city of Washington is like changing overnight But back in the back a few years ago when there was still a solidly black neighborhood I'd go into the safeway and someone see me see my in my witness clothes here and say preacher You got a word for me today I better be on my toes. I better have a word for him. Amen. I Mean, but again people want to hear from us What's that growth? Let me just give you a couple real quick evangelical moments not to overlook because I think it's important for us And I got I just got about three minutes left, but I want to say Sometimes we miss the most important evangelical moment of the day and it happens at least a dozen times a day Maybe even more someone will come to you and they'll say how you doing and you say something like fine What a wasted opportunity And again, I learned this in the safe way Because African-Americans in the safe way would never say fine. You say how you doing today? Oh, I'm blessed and highly favored Or they'll say mm-hmm blessed and passing them on to you or I'm more blessed than I deserve I'm blessed for a sinner Now that's a beautiful way to just have a quick evangelical moment with the person a simple. How you doing? I am so blessed. God's been so good to me Or as Christophanic was saying earlier just a simple God bless you instead of you know, okay. See you later, you know, you you walk out the store You see somebody and you say hi instead of just saying hi say God bless you You know, I almost always when I'm on the phone, you know with somebody I I always end God bless you I was talking to the insurance company the other day. I had to rent get my new car, you know, you know that stuff at the end Of it. I say thank you so much for your help and God bless you. Oh thank you a Simple moment like that and you start to signal and then you you're not just giving them a blessing But you're signaling them. I'm open and available to talk to you about the Lord and you'll be surprised somebody said, oh Do you know the Lord or do you go to church? What's your church? Oh, let me tell you about my church I have met the Lord's been good to me He's been so good to me So you see you open up these opportunities and just those little evangelical moments So again, I simply leave you with some of these thoughts. I I Think that if we're going to defend the faith We don't want to just defend the faith We want to if you will joyfully offer and joyfully announce the faith I know that's what we're really about in a conference like this Yes, we have to hone the arguments and holding the skills and yes We got to do that stay close to the material listen to a lot of Catholic answers live and you know By the way, I wrote a book called Catholic and curious is in the bookstore You can get it five hundred and one questions and answers on the Catholic faith You know it's down there also got a book on the Ten Commandments down there in the bookstore You know, but you know Catholic and curious so I'm very much into we've got to know the arguments We got to have right answers for people But above all it's not enough simply to have right answers if you don't seem joyful or happy about them Well, you know, gee, do I really have to go to church on Sunday? Yes, you do Because it's a mortal sin if you don't go to mass Okay. Well, that's a correct answer But but how about a little more joy? You know, it's a mortal sin because God's just so good to us I mean how could we ever turn him down on an opportunity to just come and thank him? He deserves our praise. He is worthy of our praise Oh, see then you're more joyful and you're you're announcing you're speaking the truth But you're speaking it with a not just with a love but with a joy. You're excited to say yes, the answer is true It's true. Yes, we need to be at mass on Sunday, of course, but I wouldn't be anywhere else. Oh, he's been too good to me I just I'll tell you what you come and go with me next Sunday See, see how different it is and just you know, okay. Well, I'm I got 29 seconds according to the clock So Brothers and sisters it is a joy to be with you I've already I know that I'm talking to a group that's above average about all this stuff I'm I'm mainly just reminding many of you things you already know But I do tell you that as a group we Catholics are like way below average in this ability to testimony to testify to be witnesses joyful witnesses in the theme of our conference today is or this weekend is again Christ The power and the wisdom of God How can you joyfully say he is the power of God and I know it because he's doing it in my life And he is the wisdom because he's changing the way I think amen