#452 Don't Fall for the Illusions of the 'spirit of the age.' Discovering Identity and Purpose. Go Deep! Go to Your Heart!

And St Athanasius , an early church father and the doctor of the church , said the son of God became man so that we might become God . You know I make a wild guess at this , but I bet you , most of us , are a bit disconnected from this divine life that these saints are pointing us to .

Yet St John Paul II said there's an echo of this story , of this divine life that we're created for , inscribed in each human heart , in your human heart , and if you put on a proper lens , if I put on a proper lens , we can get in touch with this echo within us in such a way that we have that aha moment .

See , that's the genus of St John Paul II Stiology , the body . It connects our lived experience of life to the gospel in such a way that our life takes on a whole new meaning and helps us answer those big questions that our whole culture is so confused about today . Who am I ? What's my purpose ? Why were we created male and female ?

How do I find happiness here on earth ? How do I find love that satisfies forever ? Hey , glad you're with me . I'll be right back for today's episode . I'm back and we are freezing , linda , it's not so cold by you , but it is 13 below , with the windchill factor . Of course , my furnace is still working , so I'm warm in here .

I think I have a psychological cold , kind of a chill going through me , but I'll stop complaining .

For Pete's sake . Wow , awesome , here we are here , we are in the belly of the beast , full of sin and evil with this government we have here in Illinois . And in the middle of all of that evil we have this cold , right , this cold , and I guess this is all part of global warming .

This is number 77 that John Paul presented on April 17th in 1982 . He's talking about the vocation of historical man , fallen man , and there's two ways to do this . We're either going to be married or we give up this marriage and the continents for the kingdom of heaven .

So we choose , we freely choose to skip marriage so they're very , very interesting and both of marriage between man and woman and to skip this earthly marriage and go right into the heavenly marriage . In essence , both of these are assigns , linda , aren't they ? They're the two bookends . It starts .

This whole story starts in the marriage of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in the book of Genesis . That ends in the book of Revelation with the marriage of Christ in the church . So one sign is directly pointing to where we're going . One sign is pointing back to our creation in the Amago Day and the image and likeness of God . So they're joining .

These are not as separate as they sound , you know . They're very joined together in a beautiful link and Christ comes in and he's , he talks about the beauty of both , and so that's kind of what we want to dive into here .

Because if we're rejecting and denying our male and female-ness you know that that's just something we have in our heads then we see that we have lost that identity and nothing can work right from there .

So , as we're in the second part of theology of the body , looking at the vocation , we have to say you know , have I really understood what my identity is first ? So we're always keeping that in the back of our minds , aren't we , jack ?

Yet yet , even before marriage and the family , there's original solitude , and original solitude is this deep relationship that both male and female , both man and woman , adam and Eve , but all of us have before we can become great lovers , even in marriage . We are anchored in God's love , in the eternal love story .

If we're disconnected from that , we really don't have anything to give . At the end of the day , you can't give what you don't have , and so we have that in original solitude . What does that mean ? That means we're different than the rest of creation . We are the liaison between creation and God Himself , and so we are priest , prophet and king .

We're the priest that goes into the world , and we lift all of this up in honor of God to thank Him for everything that he's poured down on us . It's just a thanksgiving for life itself , prophet , that we even speak this prophetic voice through our bodies , and our bodies tell the story that we're not complete .

We're called to give our lives to each other and then , finally , king , we are the to have dominion over all of this creation , in this little world called the earth , small in comparison to the universe . But we've given this to say let's bring God's love into all of creation , and so that's what that means . So it's so beautiful to do so .

Let's start with Matthew 19 . And Matthew 19 , before I get into John Paul specifically , is talking about continents for the kingdom here , and that's verse 10 . But before we get to verse 10 , right above it , I'm not going to read it all , but this is the Pharisees that came out to Jesus about the force , and he said in the beginning it was not . So .

He brings them back to Genesis one and two and he talks about how we're created in Mago day and the image of likeness of God by being created male and female , which we just unpacked .

And then he goes on to say but , but he will say the disciple said to him if that is the case of man and woman not being allowed to divorce , maybe we shouldn't get married . And then Jesus takes this opportunity to say ah , you know what ? Some people will not get married .

But they have to make a choice of that , to step right into what Jesus is really showing them , linda , is the power of the redemption of the body , the power that Jesus gives us to overcome the threefold concupiscence , this drag , this heritage of sin that we all came into .

And he says this is so powerful , what I'm going to offer to you , that you can actually skip this marriage here as a sign . Go right into this relationship with me so that you can point those that get married and those around you to say you know what ? I'm going to give you the power to love one another .

I'm going to give you the power so you don't need to divorce your wives anymore , because the power is there . And how do I know ?

Because I skipped it saying Paul or some of the other disciples would skip this earthly marriage and go right into the heavenly marriage and then in turn and pour themselves out to these other people and pull them into this love story . So let me just read that .

But he said to them Jesus , not all men can receive this , but only those whom it has been given . He's talking about continents for the kingdom , for there are eunuchs who have been so from birth .

There are eunuchs who have been made so made eunuchs by other men , and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs , and this is what we're talking about here . For the sake of the kingdom of heaven , he who was able to receive this , let him receive this . It's amazing . He just brings this out and says yep .

He says not only do I , we were created in the image and likeness of God through marriage . But at the end of the day , we're going somewhere and we're going to be joined in Trinitarian love story where they're not even married or given in marriage . It's kind of pointing us to the eschaton .

And in both cases , in both vocations , that is lived out fully when we understand that idea of being gift of self , so that I give myself to others , either in marriage or in continents for the kingdom , meaning that I am finding a new level , a different way of acting on that ability to commune with other persons , getting at a deep level .

You know , I think of spiritual direction or even direction we get in confession that the priest is able to get to a level with us because of that ability , that he understands that he's made for communion of persons as well .

Jesus , through this simple I should say simple , right , but through this profound but plain way he unpacked marriage in the beginning , in essence , he's saying this he's saying look at , original solitude means that Adam , or each of us , adam , just meaning mankind , all of us , linda , jack , everybody listening was created for a relationship with God .

That we have this original solitude , that means we're different than all of the other animals , even all the other bodies , and we have something called reason and free will , don't we ? And that is because we're called into a relationship with God .

And then to turn around and give that to others , this original unity , that's really what we're talking about here to be filled . So John Paul would say again to young people young people , you know that your life has meaning to the extent that it's given away as a gift to others . So who are you ? You're a child , a son or a daughter of God .

What is your meaning of purpose ? To give yourself away , to be filled . And give yourself away In essence , linda , that's all we're talking about here . I mean , if you want to get down to the core , be filled and then give that away .

I'm just going to toss this in there , not to confuse where we're going , but it just sends me right to the other end , where we're talking about our destiny .

And there's no marriage in heaven , because God will be all in all in heaven too , and he's given us the chance to share in that right now by our relationship with God , the redemption , the grace that flows into us , and then that's how we live out , being that gift to others .

spiritual father to his parish , to be actually a bridegroom to his bride . Every sister is called to be in a relationship with Christ so intense and so beautiful that she becomes a mother and a spiritual mother and a spiritual sister to everyone . Mother Teresa again comes to mind . In fact , I think I just saw when it comes to mind .

I just saw a picture of John Paul II and Mother Teresa sit together and they were holding hands . I think in that picture even , and you say oh , look , what a beautiful and daring thing . Here are these two spiritual fathers and mothers . Spiritual fathers there's so many , john Paul .

Spiritual mother there's so many Mother Teresa , and here they were already basically walked into eternal life . This eschaton already . What an example of this . And this is what we draw from into our own marriages , into our own families , that we are to become again , these disciples , these fathers , these mothers , and move this out into our families .

It's a sign that the kingdom of God is here , and I've got that in highlights and in my book here , because when , yeah , when we talk about , when , we see priests and religious and that picture of Pope John Paul and Mother Teresa should be like burned in our brains because it's so beautiful .

They're both saints now and that speaks of the kingdom of God is here . When you look at them and you know how they live their lives , that is like to me , the epitome of what we're all aiming for .

So , as we know that , that tension of already but not yet , yes , the kingdom of God is here , and so we're anticipating that excaton , which will be our ultimate end .

Another thing that he does say that ties in for me is that as we're looking at the excaton and we're seeing that they kind of represent heaven on earth for us , he also says that when they choose to refrain from marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven , it's a powerful testimony to the fact that God , and God alone , can ultimately fulfill that ache of

solitude , that , while marriage is a sacrament , it's a sign of our ultimate fulfillment . It is not our ultimate fulfillment , and I think we've talked about that many times that if we think our spouse is going to be the end all and be all for us , we're greatly mistaken . So he said .

Men and women who vow to a life of celibacy devote their yearning for communion directly towards God .

So we , as married individuals and that is , of course , the call that most of us have must never forget that that ultimate communion with God is our goal , for both of us , and I think that's why we say our job is to get our spouse to heaven , because that is the goal .

It's only when we sit back and we realize only God can make me fully happy , then I turn around and I don't put all that pressure on my wife or my wife doesn't put all that pressure on me . I can just go love my wife even if she's not perfect . She could love me back even if I'm not perfect . And you know what ?

We don't have to be mad at each other all the time To your point . We're all going someplace and so let's help each other get there . This allows love to really flow and depth of a human being allowed to go downstairs or see your spouse day after day after day .

I'm upstairs in my office , so that's why I say go downstairs , my wife's office is downstairs but to be able to get along and be able to laugh and be able to not take each other so seriously that I'm putting all this burden on her .

John Paul , to kind of sum this segment up here , linda , john Paul quotes God in Miss Bez 24 , which is one of his favorite , really from Vatican II . He has God in Miss Bez especially . He loves 22 and 24 . So I'm going to just read you 24.3 , which is short and it kind of sums this up . This is from John 17 , verses 21 and 22 .

Indeed , the Lord Jesus , when he prayed to the Father that all may be one , as we are one , opened up vistas close to human reason . For he implied a certain likeness between the union of the divine persons Father , son and Holy Spirit , and the unity of God's sons , and truth and charity . And this is what we've been unpacking here , right .

This likeness reveals that man , man and woman are the only creatures on earth who God willed for themselves , and they cannot fully find themselves except through a sincere gift of themselves . And so this is the essence of who we are to be persons of love .

John Paul would say disinterested love , not that you're not interested in the other person , but you're not interested in getting anything back . You can love them for their own sake , knowing that you're drawing on the greatest of God to do that . In other words , I don't empty myself , because I'm always being filled at the fountain , the eternal fountain .

And when we in the past have talked about the importance of daily prayer , we can't stress that enough , that we're going to get the power to be able to love the other that way only through our sacraments and through prayer .

I just was on the phone with one of my sisters yesterday and you know we try to catch up with what's going on and we admit to the irritations that we are dealing with with our spouses and she told me a little story about her father-in-law who , at the end of his life , they were actually his caretakers , and so she had a chance to have some conversations

with him . He was a very prayerful man , old Italian guy , he had a great sense of humor and her mother-in-law there were issues where she was like Papa , how did you deal with some of that ? And he just said zip it . And she's like what he says when he would want to say things that probably would start an argument .

He just tried to not say it and then , if things come down a little bit , to try to say something kind and loving and so we talk about that all the time with . That's what we have to do in our marriages and it's really hard .

But if I think of a quick little prayer when you're in the heat at the moment and wanting to just I find that it really is easier .

So anybody kind of struggling along those lines I can't recommend enough to don't say what you want to say , zip those lips and then calm down and use that power that Christ gives us to then turn around and be kind , and that's how we're a gift to others through that kindness .

What I want to do is I want to move it out of my heart and move it right to Christ , who will take this on the cross , and once he takes that on the cross , he will help you carry it , so that you can do exactly what you said .

But I say to you , everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart . What Jesus is getting bad at may sound harsh , but what he wants is your heart . He wants you to be liberated from sin . We see this today .

As you know , Linda , I do these talks , called Stolen and Innocent , on what's going on in the schools and stuff . Today , If you want to see how far our culture has come , we are not just lusting and using each other , we're lusting after and using children .

And when I see this , I realize , wow , when you reject God , when you reject these principles and say , nope , that's too difficult for me , how can I not lust after someone ?

And you see how this can twist and turn and get down to the very point where we will , through our lust , we will actually murder the child in the womb , castrate the ones that make it out chemically and actually mutilate their very bodies , groom them for sexual activity , and you just go wow , this is really something how it goes , Incredible reading that I did

this is from yesterday , from well , this would be from Sunday's gospel . So as we're recording this , this was yesterday , but this won't come out for a little while . But anyways , this is from 1 Corinthians 6 . And this is starting in verse 13 . Food is meant for the stomach and stomach for food , and God will destroy both and the other .

The body is not meant for immorality , but for the Lord , and the Lord for the body . And God raised the Lord , and he will also raise us up by His power . Now , this is the point , right here . Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute Never ?

Do you not know that he who joins Himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her ? For , as it is written , the two become one , but he who was united to the Lord becomes one spirit with the Lord . Shun immorality . Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body , but the immoral man sins against his own body .

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you , which you have from God ? You are not your own . You were bought with the price . So glorify God in your body . It gets back to that priest , prophet , king again that we are to glorify God in our bodies , to lift up our bodies and then lift up all of creation in thanksgiving .

In the beginning the sin was not so . In the beginning it was not so . Christ came back into , redeem us to liberate us from sins so that we could be lovers . And I think back to what you said . That's not easy . But if you don't win this battle , allow Christ to help you win this battle over the heart . You just become a person of lust .

You become an addict . You become a sex addict , an alcoholic drug addict . You're lust after food , You're lust after anything . You're trying to fill the infinite desires . You'll never be free .

He says that Christ calls everyone to overcome the domination of concupiscence through the redemption of the body , what you just described for us , jack . Only upon experiencing a true level of freedom in this regard do either vocation , celibacy and marriage make sense , for both flow from the same experience of the redemption of the body and of sexual desire .

Both flow from the same spousal meaning of the body and the call to become a gift in and through masculinity and femininity . And that's just what St Paul was saying there , right ? It's absolutely true . So those who are thinking you know , how can I not lust ? You're stuck in fallen man and look to the redemption of the body , right ?

St Paul starts out the verse before that 1 Corinthians 6 , verse 12 , all things are lawful for me . That's a saying . That was then . I can do all things because , see , the Greeks separated the body and the soul .

So they thought what you do , this is at that time , what you do in the body does not affect your spirituality , that you're not a body and a soul unity that our bodies will drop off . This was where we disagreed with Plato right , that that we would be liberated from our bodies . And you know when we die ?

Well , god says no , you guys are going to have bodies in the afterlife . I'm going to come back and you know your bodies , your bodies , are redeemed . Well , that starts today . And so when you don't do that , what happens ? You say , just like they do today .

This is exactly what happens in these school board meetings we can do whatever we want with our bodies , that our bodies are our own and that's why we can go through these gender ideologies and these poor kids that are put through these puberty blockers and these cross-sex hormones and become chemically castrated because we can do whatever we want with even kids' bodies

today . And then you say to yourself you know , this is insanity , what's happening , you know , but this is exactly what happens , you know , they so . So the teaching today in the schools , with the national sex that standards , is there is no morality . This is exactly what St Paul .

He's the opposite of what St Paul just said there , and they'll say exactly this to me there is no morality . It's just my morality , or my opinion and your opinion , that this today is a pleasure based system . We're teaching our kids that sex is about pleasure .

It's not about morality , it's about seeking pleasure , and kids should be liberated to use their bodies to seek pleasure , which is the opposite of what Jesus says . And what St Paul is saying is that your bodies are a sacramental sign of God's love for you . But you see , linda , if there's an enemy that hates God , where would he attack ?

And there is an enemy , and so where would he attack ?

You know , I was a former chef . I own bars and restaurants and I mean it was . It's crazy how , when you know , when you open your heart to lust and I know this is a young man when you open your heart to lust , lust will take over your heart , it will take over your heart . You will lose it , you'll go from , from .

And this is why stolen innocence of kids is so important , because I know how I went from this innocent young guy and Later on , even in my late teens , I was fairly innocent . Then boom , in my early 20s , lust just start to come in and you know , the culture fills your heart .

And once you step into that story , that lust story , and start using people , it's amazing how you become lost and it was it was . It's an incredible battle on your knees to to allow that . You know that redemption of the body to take place right and it is a battle of the heart .

So you know , we have to recall that I'm in this battle Whether I want to be or not , and it is that spiritual battle of the heart . But again , you know , you can remain stuck in being that fallen man and losing the battle , or you can turn to the one who has the power to redeem you and get you out and on the right track .

You know , I'm just going off the top of my head , but , but you know , the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour . I mean , this is the story we came into . Look what's happening in the church right now , linda , we , we have a few Fudisha , a supplicants right now .

This , this document passed down from the church , which , which is really talking about whether it's okay to bless same-sex marriages , same-sex couples , and so you know , just to put this idea in people's minds and hearts . Now , you could just see the battle going on within the church .

So so here's the bride of Christ within the church , the battle going on , this is the battle going on with marriages and the families . So this is a tremendous battle . So we're unpacking here has repercussions for all of us , doesn't it ?

They're fallen , they're stuck in that fallenness and it also is an argument that people use for our priests and religious to be married . Now we know the Continence for the kingdom is a discipline , not a dogma , in the church , and yet that's why the Pope is addressing it so strongly here that it is something , that it's a sacrifice .

It's a giving up of that normal call to marriage and the intimacy that involves , and so Something only has value , or sacrifice only has value if what you're giving up has great value and the religious who are giving up that particular union that we have in Marital intimacy are telling us that's of great value .

I know stories of priests who talk about having had girlfriends and you know they were really discerning between marriage and the call to the priesthood and it was a very , very difficult thing for them because they understood the great sacrifice that it would be .

And so everyone who might be Tending to you know be very negative Against our priests and religious because of all the scandal . Just need to take a step back and reflect on what the call really means .

After John the Baptist Recognizes Jesus , who he is , yells out the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world . And then two of Jesus , the site , two of John the Baptist disciples who we know are John and Andrew , start to follow Jesus . And Jesus turns to them and says what do you seek ? What do you seek ?

And then they say to him rabbi , which means teacher , where are you staying ? And Jesus simply says come and see , come and see . And so what does Jesus know ? That we have forgotten ? What do you seek ? He knows , and here's the key to all this he knows this is in the human heart . If this was just information , you could Google this .

This would be information like any other information you can get . No , this is a person , this is an art . This isn't our DNA . How does Jesus know that you desire something else ? What do you seek ? Because he seeks you , because he put that desire . We , we are from . God himself Created me . A muggle day .

We had this DNA of God himself Blowing through our blood . He knows that our hearts seek him , and so that's when he says what do you seek ? Come and see . Come and see what . Come and see me . I know what you're looking for . You're looking for me . So if this wasn't true , lidda , christianity would have died a long time ago .

The reason it's alive and the reason John Paul is unpacking this . He's saying you know , seek your heart , listen to your heart . This is why the saints and the mystics say over and over again you need to go into silence of prayer , you need to connect your heart with God . This is the whole thing that we were talking about today .

Connect with God , draw deeply from that source of love and then turn and become a person of love . Then you will know . Then you will know , come and see .

In the fall , we breathed out . Huh , we breathe this beautiful love story out and Christ comes back in and breathes it back into us . It's kind of interesting , lidda .

The first thing Jesus does when he comes after his resurrection comes through right through the door , a closed , locked door , comes right through that door without opening it and he breathes on the apostles there , that Ru'ah . He breathes it back into them . That's what we want .

When we lift , like you said earlier , when you lift up those little things that are bothering you to God , he breathes into you and it's this breath that we have to take . But we have to get this in silence and we have to get this .

When we say yes to him , our fiat to him , and then we breathe in and then we breathe out this love to others , that's not brain surgery . It's not easy , but it's not our power , it's only our power in union and communion with God himself . It's a fantastic story , isn't it ? I mean , you'll only know it until you jump into it .

You've got to get into it .