Mother Angelica's EWTN

God demands so much from us because He knows what Heaven is like.
Do you know how long God waited for you eons ago?
no faith: not lil faith

prob: affair
heavy pain
rejection
betrayal
deception
deepest hurt a woman can have
to feel more manly
talk to him
you have the right
be patient & wait
danger ahead of you bec of STD now
men running around
very difficult prob
go to a holy priest to get consolation
try to forgive bec God forgave His worst enemies
get the hatred out of your heart
only time will tell
be faithful to the Lord
he should confess to a holy priest
sit before the Blessed Sacrament
speak to my heart
there's always hope
be patient
Go to JC with that hurt, JC, Mary suffered from
don't give up

don't stop going to Mass bec you need the grace, spirit coming
don't give up
say a rosary every day
Conversion is around the corner.
God is working for her.

Prayer is conversation with God.
talking to Him brings you closer to Him
It pleases Him.
say gd am, Lord
JC wants you to talk to Him even while reading the Scriptures
we spend so much money on the flesh
talk to God even about irrelevant things
He is your Best Friend.

She didn't do anything wrong, why be forgiven?
dealing with bad decisions on his part
married for the wrong reasons
Get over the hurt 1st.
real marriage: if you separate, you can't remarry
Find out the man's intention.
something very wrong with Him
She needs to pray
Don't be brokenhearted, 1 heartache after another..
Look for a good holy priest who will help her through this.
There's more to it than meets the eye.
See a canonist.
JC will heal her heart before the Blessed Sacrament.

Our country is our 1st love, where we were born.
God loves you a lot.
in trouble, go to confession, get that load off you.
Allow JC to be w/ you on Xmas eve.
Have a whole new life.

Novena to Saint Andrew

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

Dr. Timothy Gray & Dr. Scott Hahn

Walk the Walk by Dr. Timothy Gray
Jn 8:31
You are My disciple if you abide in My Word.
The truth shall set you free.
Jesus' Name effects what it signifies always.
Jesus means Yahweh says.
Jesus' saving presence becomes real.
Call on the name of JC.
Evokes the presence it signifies
You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain.
Jewish tradition: You couldn't say Yahweh unless you're a priest.
Wherever 2 or 3 are gathered in My Name, there I Am.
Jesus means Jesus the Christ.
Christ means The Anointed One, a title, not a surname.
mission: to be the Messiah, King
The Anointed One was the King of Israel.
Jesus the Christ means Jesus the King.
Is Jesus King in your heart & life?
sovereign over you
77% of Americans identify themselves as Christians, 4 out of 5.
self-identify, not lived
Christianity as an idea is easy, but as a way of life & discipline is different.
It takes deeds to be a disciple.
Act on thoughts, beliefs.
rampant abortion, porn: pretense, phony
Match deeds with identity to be authentic and true.
Acts of the apostles: call Christians the way, a way of life
disciple of a rabbi: follow so closely, covered with dust
dry climate in Israel
Follow your rabbi wherever he goes, imitate his teachings, actions.
following His leading
Americans better to lead than to follow
To be a Christian is following Christ.
Lk 22:54
Peter followed at a distance.
1st duty of a disciple: to be with JC
Denial is always preceded by a distance.
Following at a distance is dangerous.
At Your Word, Lord, I will let down the net: huge catch
Peter: Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man.
afraid to be close to JC
Following JC will make demands from me: St. Augustine
God, give me chastity, but not yet, giving up the gf he had that was his concubine.
great challenge: Trusting that God's way is enough.
coming to know the love of God: deep, profound love, happiness & peace
Discipleship is a dangerous & risky business.
JC: Do not be afraid.
Our identity can't be locked in with our earthly identity.
son of God: can't be shaken to the core
unshaken kingdom: vision
Peter wept bitterly.
caught 153 fishes
JC made a charcoal fire.
JC gives 2nd chances.
forgiveness that changes us: sorrows for sin, not pride
Only love can re-fashion our hearts.
Knowledge w/o love is cold.
The only way to re-fashion iron is heat.
Late have I loved thee, O beauty...
Knowledge of JC is the mold.
We need learning of JC & love together: like body & soul.
easier to learn than do
put the 2 together
JC is a rabbi: Sermon on the Mount, parables, constantly teaching
disciple (Grk): a learner, sitting in JC's feet learning, abide with love

Love makes the burden light.

Love is what will change disciples.

Love is the key to discipleship.

Love is what brings the disciples to JC.

JC is the Key.

Is 43:18-19

Remember not the former things, consider not the things of old.
Peter holds on to his past, makes him prisoner to his present, not open to God doing things for him.
New evangelization is what JC does.
He is the Actor.
We simply have to follow.
Your sins are forgiven.
hardness of heart. the failure to see God's action in our lives

The key to discipleship is obedience, faith, trust.
changed by falling in love with JC and trusting His Word
faith followed by obedience
The Call of Discipleship
some place in our lives not submitting to God's will: hard to trust
Where am I not being a true disciple?
Call to trust in JC.
Walk in newness of life.
Deeds will match identity.
Jer 23:29
His Word may smash the hardest of rocks.

On New Evangelization by Dr. Scott Hahn
2012: Theme of New Evangelization
themes: Eucharist-Bible-NE
The NE is not that new.
Year of Faith 2011, 50th anniv of Vatican II
Vatican I: evangelium used only once
Pope Paul VI
Evangelization: the Church's deepest identity, she exists to evangelize
Paschal mystery: the heart of the Gospel
1992: NE launched, 500th yr of founding of USA
Italy, Spain, France: populous Catholic countries before
Brazil, Mexico, US: now the most populous Catholic countries in the world
90s: the advent season of the NE
advent: 4 wks out of 52
not a short-term project, but a long-term commitment
NE: not just for clergy but for lay people, everybody
primary goal: re-evangelizing the de-Christianized people
evangelization of culture
recognize the culture of death
a culture of life: recognize the dignity of human life, sanctity of marriage
The Eucharist should be the source of NE.
Word & Sacrament are inseparable: mutual relationship
All evangelizers proclaim who JC is.
Catholic evangelizers proclaim the Eucharist.
4 spiritual laws:
1. God loves you
2. You sin.
3. JC died for your sins.
4. You must choose to believe.
How can Catholic evangelization be intensely Eucharistic?
Evangelization does not begin with personal relationship.
goal: a covenental relationship, commitment, takes time
what the Eucharist represents

Fr. Robert Barron

Following the Call of Christ by Fr. Robert Barron
Reverence the Sacred Scripture as we reverence every particle of the Host.
Bible: every detail matters
Jericho: the city of sin, violence, separation
stands for the false way of ordering things
blindness: great symbol of the fallen line, don't see right
To be holy is to see with the eyes of Christ.
adjusting vision to JC's vision
see the world as JC does
beggar: Bartimaeus
In sin, we lost holiness: integration of self, fallen apart, mind VS will, lost integrity
compelled to beg like Bartimaeus
The key is you can't save yourself.
Sin is like an addiction, deadly sins.
We can't will ourselves out of it, beg: every liturgy.
eleison mei: Have pity on me
curiae eleison
Cristi eleison: Lord, have mercy on me.
Have the humility to beg.
When you start begging, don't expect for help from the society.
spiritual game: asking for the Lord to have mercy
Expect opposition from the greater society.
Bartimaeus: he keeps begging, asking
JC loved that.
JC stood still (Gospel of Mark): Call him here.
JC is the still point, anchor, center, ground.
JC stood still & they kept coming at Him at all sides: acting like magnet to call the people to Him.
callaod: to call, root of ecclesia, the Church
summoned into communion with Him
It's not a matter of me & JC. I've been called into communion with Him. The Church matters.
Throwing off his cloak: baptism symbol, old person, old way of being, process of conversion
baptized naked
come up & put a white garment: newness of life
Change of your life
center around the ego & preoccupations
To be a convert is to have the lightness of being, soul.
How come the angels can fly: Bec they take themselves so lightly.
We're meant for flight: fullness of reality, God's love
Bartimaeus: throw off the ego, jump up lightly
JC: What do you want me to do for you? a searching question
cuts down to the bottom of the soul
St. Thomas Aquinas: wrote a treatise before he died
JC: What would you have as a reward?
Nil nici tae: Nothing except You.
Bartimaeus: Lord, I wanna see. (physical sight)
I want to see the world of right, see things as they are, all things connected to each other in & to God.
JC: Be on your way, your faith has healed you.
Faith means trust in the basic Biblical sense.
Leave the confines of the small soul.
Restore physical sight.
how the story ends: He followed Him up the road, going to the Cross, complete self-emptying love.
All stories of conversion ends: where someone knows where to go
the ultimate direction
walk behind JC as He goes to the place of self-emptying love.
joyful life: make of it a gift
The Story of the Woman at the Well: story of conversion
Gospel of John
Samaritans: half-breeds, not respectable
JC likes sinners, goes thru the land of sin.
well: marriage
Wells in OT always associated with marriage (e.g. Isaac, Moses daughters of Jethro, Jacob spies Rachel).
JC is the marriage of Heaven & earth (humanity).
comes as a Bridegroom looking for His bride
tired out from His journey from Heaven to earth: incarnation
God enters into our condition fully: except sin
willingness to be a friend of sinners
Nicodemus came at night
night: symbolizes lack of vision, revelation
high noon: a lot of light going on
The Bridegroom is waiting by the well.
The Samaritan woman stands for us, the Church.
Give me a drink: revolution.
theme of our thirst for God: common
God in one sense is also thirsty for us, thirsty to be married to us.
woman: triple outsider, woman, Samaritan (no good for a Jew), alone at noon
women don't do that, women came together, early am or pm, an outcast, shady figure
just the kind of person JC loves: triple outsider
JC wants to marry us, after us.
If you knew the gift of God, you would've asked Him & He would've given you water.
God is the one who gives.
God is perfect, needs nothing.
The world exists: given to us in love.
The greatest gift of God: His own Son.
you would've asked Him for living water
We receive what God gives, immediately give it away, don't cling to it (e.g. prodigal son: loses money).
If you cling to what God gives you, you will lose it.
Give it away.
Catch the divine life on the fly.
life of grace, life of God in you.
the more you do it (give God's life), the more you get.
St. Augustine: the well of life
well: concupiscent desire, break from it
All of us were made for God, wired for Him, infinite desire.
replace desire with worldly thing: got a lil buzz from it, but wears off, can't satisfy me, get more (pick your poison: wealth, sex, power)
Caught in a rhythm of addictive desire
drink & unsatisfied
give away to get more
Go call your husband & come back.
husband: governs, leads your life
Tell me who is it who's running your life.
You've been looking around in a lot of bad places for the governor of your life.
led around by a lot of people
JC proposing marriage in the well
I want to be the Lord of your life.
applies to all baptized person:  Lord, You be the governor of my life.
Your will in me
I wanna be your Husband.
True worshipers (adore God) will worship the Father in spirit & in truth.
adoration (ad oratio): to the mouth of
drawing in God's Spirit
worship: you draw it in, you give it away
adoration: receive the Holy Spirit
The Messiah will tell us everything, reveal the pattern to us.
She wants to tell the world about JC.
Evangelization begins in conversion.
Jonah: one of the funniest bks in the Bible.
basic steps of spiritual conversion
We are a called people, from outside self
ideal for Plato, et al: the self-directed life
We are a summoned people.
There is a power w/in you.
Stop relying on your own will, surrender.
Jonah: Go preach! prophet (e.g. lawyer = justice)
God is justice itself, God working thru you, passive.
writer, critic: Allow the truth to seize you, motivation.
God after all is the Truth itself.
Place own will in the passive voice.
doctor, nurse: allow love, concern to others to seize you.
God is Love itself.
All of us are called, have a mission.
artist: the desire to make beautiful things
respond to God's call
John Henry Neumann: We're all been called & made for a definite purpose, pearl of great price
Jonah: went west by sea to Tarshish (like Timbaktu), God wants him to go east by boat, far western end of the Mediterranean
go far away as he possibly could
saints: respond fully to that call
sinners: hop on boat to Tarshish, move to an opposite direction
Love means giving oneself away.
fall asleep: bad sign in the Bible, unaware, oblivious (e.g. Gethsemane)
Biblical people: afraid of the sea (ancient writings)
Jonah's resistance caused the storm
When we resist our call, trouble for everybody, difficulty.
We are all connected.
In Your will is my peace. - Dante
Our choices (consequences) affect everybody around us.
God is the sheer act of being.
Ps 139: a sinner's lament
Where can I run from Your love?
Our wills when resistant to God need to be swallowed up by the divine will.
Joseph: so full of himself (dream): obnoxious
falsely accused, sent to prison for 7 yrs: tested, tried
emerged from that experience, became the greatest in Egypt
needed to be swallowed & disciplined to be ready to do God's will
Moses: life in order
need to be swallowed up for a time: desert, a common shepherd
How do we read the times when we feel swallowed up by the whale?: darkness, despair, unfulfilled plans
dumb suffer or the discipline of God
swallowing of our wills
Jonah praised from the belly of the whale.
efficacious prayer
The darkest, driest periods of our lives: the vehicles of God to send us to where He wants us to be
from the king to the cattle repented
When we start cooperating with God, miraculous things happen.
Mission & person are tightly linked.
You know who you are when you find your mission.
change their names when they get their mission
When the call comes, listen to it, and then you find out who you are.

Fr. Robert Barron

Reaching Out to Today's Culture by Fr. Robert Barron
his global media ministry: wordonfire.org
God: the sheer act of to be itself thru whom all finite beings act upon
You can't find God by looking among the beings of the world (phy or che evidence)
metaphysical reasoning
argument of contingency
I am who am: not a categorizal being.
You can approach God intellectually.
Introduction to Christianity (1968) by Josef Ratzinger
Any science: being can be known, is intelligent.
fought in being by a primordial being
The world was intelligently there.
All things came to be through that Word.
Vatican II: Bible is the Word of God.
Biblical interpretation
words of men
inspired by the Word of God coming thru the word of man
one great Author: God
one great theme: salvation
Bible: a collection of books, like a library, a wide variety of genre
philosophy: a way of knowing, prepares us for theology
science: The world is not divine. The world is intelligible.
Religion is the matrix in which other sciences come.
stone: the finality of death
Death is final, absolute, the end.
grieve when somebody dies: a stone rolled across
Vatican II: missionary council
The Church is meant to transform the world.
parallel between the Gospel of John & the Book of Genesis
JC is the Light that no darkness can overcome. 

Fr. Larry Richards

The Truth by Fr. Larry Richards
What is the meaning of life? What is true?
Who made me? God
Why did God make me? To know God.
God made me to know Him and serve Him.
The most impt thing is to come to know God.
At the end of our life, God gave us what He loved the most: JC.
I gotta be in a rel with Him.
You could know a lot about JC but never know JC.
To know JC is to have everlasting life: eternal decision.
What we do now determines our eternity.
In the end, JC is all that matters.
What do you need from God?
Do not be afraid. 365 times in a Bible
You hurt Me when you don't allow Me to give you things.
You hurt Me when you don't allow Me to love you.
In JC, you are My son.
exorcism: You are God's beloved son.
You wanna know God, you have to know who you are, too or vice versa.
Listen to His heartbeat.
prob: You do not know how much you're loved by God.
If we all knew how much God loves us, we will all be saints.
call to be disciples: He bids them to come to die
Give my life away in death if I love other people.
serve them
The only way people will know you're disciples is when you love each other.
Am I a loving person?
Do I put others in front of me?
A person who loves God is a person who loves others (family).
Be people of love.
I am 3rd: God, others, self last.
JOY: Jesus, others, you
It begins at home, not at Church.
Do we treat people as nice as we treat people at Church?
ff JC: Tell people you love that you love them.
JC commanded us to love, and He forbid us to judge.
I'm a person of love.
deathbed: The only thing that will matter is your relationship.
I wish I love my family more.
You have to tell people that you love them every day. It's time to start. The call of God.
Be people of love.
We're called to serve God.
We're called to know God: prayer.
We're called to love Him by loving others.
We're called to serve by serving others.
prayer is not about God becoming your slave
prayer is about submitting your will to the will of the Master: Your will be done.
We need to be slaves of JC.
JC got to be your Lord.
JC can't be your Savior if He is not your Lord: all aspects of your life.
All or nothing!
You prove your love by the amount of time you spend to.
St. Francis de Sales: 1/2 hr every day in prayer except when busy, needs an hr
You give time for Me, worth your time.
Is God worth your time?
Lord of your life, Lord of your time
#1 priority of a parent is to get your kids to Heaven
#1 priority of a spouse: to get your spouse to Heaven
Is He Lord of your family?
Do you pray together?
Is God in charged of your money?
All your money belongs to God.
OT: top 10th of your income to God
NT: Give everything
Take care of His poor.
sin of omission: what you failed to do
In your lifetime, millions of children die of hunger.
If you don't give 10% of your income to God, you're stealing to God.
Just give until God stops giving to you.
5% to poor, 5% to God
If God is not the Lord of your money, He cannot be your Lord of anything.
Is He Lord of your sexual life?
1st commandment God gave us: Increase and multiply
Pray at the time of intimacy.
God wants to be the One that brings you together: share your soul.
Invite JC to be in the midst of it.
Let God be the Lord of your bedroom life.
God, whatever You want, I will do.
He asks me something I'm not willing to give up: that's what He wants.
Gal 2:19 I have been crucified with JC... JC lives in me.
When JC calls you, he bids you to come and die.
Cross and resurrection
You must be crucified so that He can live inside you.
Surrender!
Commit and recommit life to JC every day.
no dirty hands in Heaven
holding on to anything
Hold so tightly
With God, you have everything.
W/o God, you have nothing but a handful of dirt.
You can be dust forever, or you can take the dust today and surrender to JC.
Hold nothing back.
Sit at the feet of the Master.
Develop the attitude of a Master, Phil 2:2.
Transform into the Master.
Be a fanatic of JC.
Go to the Word of God. Spend time with God every day.
No Bible, no breakfast.
No Bible, no bed.
Know the catechism.
Grow in JC.
Are you here to serve or be served?
Transformed into Christ.
Christian: another Christ
See JC in me.
Die more and more to self so that JC will grow in me.
The purpose is to bring people to JC.
If JC is anything like you, I cannot wait to meet JC.
St Francis of Assissi: Preach JC to others, and if possible, use words.
A Christian is one who died in Christ.
We will live with JC forever in Heaven by being a saint.
You and I are to become saints.
Be holy to see God, not an option.
St. Jean Vianney: Pray and love, the glorious duty of man.
Listen, surrendered to Him.
Pray.
Never fit God into your day.
Fill your life with God.
Tell everybody you love that you love them.
Pray and love to become a great saint.
In the end, that's all that matters is to become a saint.

Audio: The Fruit of Commitment

The Fruit of Commitment
commit to be wrecked: how to be happy
The point of a trip is to lead you to a destination.
travel: merely feeding restlessness
not what God has for us: bouncing from one to another, after a few months of trying things out
age of opportunity: unlimited freedom
purpose is to find something
reality char by order, not chaos
chace exps & events & failed the test of commitment
abandoning commitment: narcissistic
w/o cmmitment: lack happiness
if nothing is worth dying for, then nothing is worth living for.
die that we may truly live
prodigal children wandering aimlessly
excuses for avoiding commitment
afraid to make a decision
not waiting but stalling
afraid of the conseq
learn how to be a friend, mt a deadline
commitments make us become better people
tough choice
the beauty of a LT rel
embrace exp
one commitment at a time
extended adolescence
instinct to avoid commitments: figuring things out
industrial rev: youth culture
adol: a modern phenomena
break the cycle
look bkward, not forward
need initiation: mentorship
take the initiative to find someone to guide them
the student's resp,  not the mentor's
we refuse to let young ppl fail
learning confi in the face of inadequacy & insec
grow up into your destiny
no map: make your own way
get over your commitment phobia
promises: covenants
age of gratification
be ppl of covenants
embrace the hard thing: commit
contrary to avoiding pain
the ease is hardly worth the sacrifice
we must risk
any commitment is a risk
higher risk of waiting: waiting to decide
readiness doesn't come cheap
greatness has a cost, commitment: walk thru the mire (hero for the satisfaction of tom)
process of a long haul
patience: sep us from the pack
you can outlast the other guys if you try, trip 3x
commit: the only way greatness is achieved
a choice not to do something else
decision paralysis
commit to a cause
what was hard was also right
chasing the promises of something better
watching self grow
some blessings come with LT investment, better in the long haul
a deeper, lasting joy: subtle at 1st
some accomplishments take time
a decision that cost us dearly
stupid to play it safe
where we grow
don't sleep on it, don't procrastinate
embrace the challenge, make the choice
the fruit is always worth the pain
excitement of doing something new
new is always attractive
portray what we do as something new

Jeff Cavins

I'm Not Being Fed by Jeff Cavins
The number one Catholic eating disorder: I'm not being fed.
hungry: You will find some place to eat.
You will find a place to be fed.
The Eucharist that brought me back to church.
I wasn't spiritually being fed.
Who ultimately has the responsibility to feed you? JC
Psalm 23
many options in the wilderness
Jn 10:11 I am the Good Shepherd. The Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
Paraclete: the HS
He established the Authority.
1 Tim 3:15 The Church that is the pillar and support of the truth.
MT 16:13
Mt 16, Jn 14, 31
discipline, guidance
Jn 23
If you love Me, feed my sheep, tend my sheep.
asked 3x to Peter
He has doubts.
This is My Body.
Where do the sheep eat?
Jn 6: the most powerful chapter in the NT where to eat
we feed ourselves, it's fun
Fellowship is just like dessert.
Jn 6: the feeding of the 5k
Mk 6: same story
a model of Mass
Jn 6:33
He felt compassion for them bec they were like sheep w/o a shepherd.
We need a shepherd.
Mass: the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist
the Word and the Body of God
the Mass is the great exchange
we give Him our words & He gives us our words.
My flesh is true food.
I left the Church bec I wasn't being fed.
covenant: eat the sacrifice
God will provide the Lamb.
Catholic Church: a cycle of readings, 3 years' cycle all NT
Rev 3:20

Mark Hart

Re-made by Mark Hart
The path from your head to your heart
You are designed for Heaven, eternity.
disillusioned: There's something more to life.
impersona Cristi
The only thing that's keeping you from being a saint is YOU.
God: I tattooed your name at the palms of My Hand.
His crib was a feed box. Not afraid to get dirty.
The sin against the Holy Spirit: The only sin that God won't forgive you for.
You are the sum of the Father's Love.
4k promises He made for you
When you pray to Me, I will listen.
He's a God, not a genie. It doesn't work.
He's your Lover.
There are people way better at you at sin.
Love is all about living.
annoyed people: not fulfilling their purpose
The only thing that doesn't go away is God, His love.
Don't stand on the boat when JC says walk on water.
You are created in Christ Jesus to do good works, to live life to the fullest.
Don't be a reactionary Catholic.
The whole symbol of our faith is discomfort.
He's not afraid of the dirt, mess.

Matthew Kelly

Becoming the Best Version of Yourself by Matthew Kelly
Bible: find the secrets to all of life's succcess
the message of Xmas: God wants to give us more, I got bigger plan
We'll only be happy when we're doing the will of God, what God creates us to do, what God tells us to do.
not a mystery, not out of reach, not unavailable to us
despair: a lie
We can know the will of God. We just don't ask the question, too scared to ask.
God wants you to become the best version of yourself: God's dream for you
Stop being second-rate versions of ourselves.
fundamental principle of life, Xtianity, spirituality: become the best version of yourself
Friendship is a good place to start.
What makes the best friendship? help you become the best version of yourself, hang on to them
causing or encouraging you to become a lesser version of yourself
purpose of marriage: can only be understood in relation to the fundamental principle, 2 people getting together encouraging, helping, challenging each other to become a best version of themselves, raising and educating children
To be holy means to become a best version of yourself.
e.g. St. Francis, Mother Teresa
Marriage is a God's vehicle to help people become holy, designed to help people become the best version of themselves.
Why do we work?
Work to become the best version of self: work hard to develop character, virtue
articulate the fundamental principle
There's genius in Catholicism.
Advent: We need to prepare for anything that's important.
We prepare for anything, everything we consider important in life.
Beware that your hearts don't become drowsy from the anxieties of daily life.
Repent means to turn back to God.
Any journey towards something means a journey away from something.
We reject the simple.
Our modern culture worships complexity.
We don't need complexity.
Our souls need simplicity.
If you really love God, show it. Prove it.
God is an internal mystery.
Love of God is total mystery.
proof is love of neighbor
ark of the covenant represented the presence of God
David dancing for joy in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant.
John the Baptist danced for joy in Elizabeth's womb.
Switch the focus off ourselves and on to others.
the paradox
We find joy by serving, not by being served.
Don't just tell me. Show me.
His dream for you is you become the best version of yourself. He doesn't want to control you.
common yearning of man: to be happy bec God gave it to us, uses it as an eternal homing devise
strong desire for happiness
bring us back to Him
4 aspects of the human person (rhythm of life):
1. physical: exercise, diet
2. emotional: focus on relationships, priority
3. intellectual: read a good book, change, grow
vision of self and world expand, vibrant
4. spiritual: silence a few minutes a day, reconnected with self and God, sense of peace & purpose, abundant life
We know what makes us happy. We just don't do them.
We're too busy trying to be happy.
Relationships thrive under carefree timelessness.
Take time to pray, reflect.
4 New Year's Resolution
1. Exercise once a week every week for the entire year.
your experience of life is only limited by the energy you have.
2. Have serious carefree timelessness once a month with significant other. Make it happen.
Have rich relationship lives.
the reason young people fall in love too easily and why adults fall out of love too easily
starve: wither and die
3. 10mins a day every day, 10 books
Books change our lives.
What we read today walks and talks with us tom.
We become the stories we listen to.
Read good books. Collect good books.
How do you judge a good book, movie?
Am I a better person?
music: inspire
matthewkelly.org
4. Get yourself a journal, bring to Mass.
Mass: the central experience of Catholicism
Billions of Catholics
center of our lives
The problem with the Mass is not out there.
The most powerful movement of the 20th, 21st century is the abdication of responsibility.
God, show me one way in this Mass I can become a better person.
Our lives change when our habits change.
Human behavior is so predictable.
We start everything very neatly.
Human behavior is phenomenally predictable.
God doesn't have any favorites.
Heroes had better habits.
It's all about choices.
misery
How often do you feel like working out? praying? reading?
Judge an activity not on how you feel but when you're done.
You gotta make a choice. You gotta access the options.
choose happiness or misery
Start choosing the best version of yourself.
God won't force you to do what you don't wanna do