#468 "For The Stage Of This World Is Passing Away; I Want You To Be Free From Anxieties"--St. Paul

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's theology 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 . It's so good to be with you . This is theology the body . Men and women . He created them . Theology , the body .

If you've been following us in that book , incredible work right by John Paul II this is audience number 83 . So John Paul gave these live audiences it's amazing over a period of years . This one he presented on June 30th 1982 . And it's about Paul's argument . And before I get into it I'll just say this usually Linda Piper joins me .

Linda had a family emergency and so she's dealing with that right now . So it's kind of a last minute thing . So I'm going to just , you know , kind of go off the cuff here a little bit . I've got some notes , I've got some Bible readings in front of me , but let's just talk a little bit , I'll get into this right now .

So John Paul says that when Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 7 explains the question of marriage and virginity , or continents for the kingdom of God , he tries to explain the reason why one who chooses marriage , marriage , does well , while the one who chooses a life in continents or virginity does better .

So he's contrasting these two different vocations , two different ways to live out our life in married life . Or we skip this marriage and we give up . You know , we accept the life of virginity , we renounce marriage in this life and go right to the marriage of the lamb , which is where we're all pointing to . And he writes this .

He says I say this to you , brothers the appointed time has grown short . From now on , let those who have wives live as though they had none , and then let those who buy as though they had no possessions and those who make use of this world as though they make no use of it , for the stage of this world is passing away .

I want you to be free from anxieties . Saint Paul feels , has a sense that Jesus is going to come back very soon , and he's saying whatever you do , whatever stage you're in right now , he said , you know , be aiming toward God , because this world is passing by very quickly . And he's right , it passes by very quickly . So the second coming .

We're still waiting for that . But at the end of the day , you see what happens when we don't turn . And this is what I'm going to do today ? Just to start to turn this right now into what this means for us . What does this mean for us ? To that Paul ? Saint Paul says it's good that if you get married , but it's even better if you don't .

What does that got to do with us ? What does that got to do with our marriage ? You know , john Paul goes on to say this . Paul , by contrast , speaks about the troubles of the body that the spouses expect because they'll be anxious about each other and about the different things that happen in their own lives .

You think about a father that has a number of different children . He's married , he's trying to make a living , he knows that he should be spending , say , more time in prayer or whatever .

He feels a disconnect , but at the end of the day , he has anxieties about the world that a religious person that's living in a order , say , doesn't have all those anxiousness about what they're going to eat and what they're going to wear and how to feed all those mouths .

So he said that's why this is better , because you can go directly into the life of Christ at a very deep level . So what I want to do , then , today , is I'm going to go back and read 1 Corinthians 7 , parts of that . I'm going to start at verse 25 and go through , and then I want to make a connection .

I want to make a connection for all of us because and I'll tell you ahead of time we have an interior life , an interior life that we're filled with the Spirit . We make a connection to God and we take that interior life and we live that out exteriorly as we step into the world .

And it's so fascinating that when you step into the world , when we see all the evils in the world , it's because that interior life is broken , that human heart is not filled with grace , is not filled with the Spirit , has not accepted redemption and the body and blood of Christ . We have not overcome the powers and principalities of the world .

So it goes into the world grasping and taking or floundering it's , you know or bringing evil into the world , all kinds of different things . We're lost , really . We're lost on that broad highway to nowhere that Christ talks about . Or in the interior , in our prayer , we go through that narrow gate . We filled , you know .

We go through prayer and the sacraments and the sacramentals and the rosary and re-description . We become filled and then we live that out . We live that out into the exterior world . We bring that into relationships later on , into marriage or into religious life . But either way we're building up the culture of life .

We're bringing good into the world , what's true , what's good and what's beautiful in the world , or we don't . Then we see this battle between Satan and our Lord going on and we are at stake because we're the ones that were tasked to bring the beauty of God's love into the world .

But when we rejected God , we , the power of Satan himself attracts us , and this is that attraction that I spoke about in the last session , that attraction between Christ , as he's raised in the cross and draws all men he says to himself , and those that reject that .

And of course they're taken by that power of Satan and the principalities and powers of the world . We see this battle going on . So let me read this and then let me unpack it a little bit . I might make it an analogy I was thinking about from a football , from a football perspective .

So more concerning marriage Now , concerning the unmarried , I have no command of the Lord , but I give my opinion as one who , by the Lord's mercy , is trustworthy .

I think that , in view of the impending distress , it is well for a person to remain as he is Again that impending distress , you know St Paul senses , you know , this battle that's going to be coming on , and it really is .

You know , even though the Jesus didn't come back as quickly as Paul thought , he is really he's sensing this distress that you know this is a new reign . Now , you know , christ came in . He defeated sin and death .

This is the first time since the fall that we have now the power over sin and death given to us by Jesus Christ , who actually defeated sin and death , and then he's raised on the cross , and then we're drawn to him because that's that power he's given that power .

He's overcome the world , this world that's passing by , and so , again , we receive that into our interior life . We see it , though , as an exterior model of how to live . Jesus Christ reveals man to man himself . In Godia , miss Pes , john Paul quotes so often . What does that mean ? We're filled , first of all , with this interior life .

Jesus always goes out to pray and fast and open himself to the Father to fill this interior life . You see this over and over again . And then he is a person of love , and on that cross he pours himself totally out as love for his bride . Now Jesus , as we were talking about married and unmarried never took a wife . Why ?

Because he pours himself out to each one of us and we start to see where we're going . We start to see the union and communion with God . This is where we're going . But eternity doesn't start tomorrow . Eternity means forever . We take this in , whether we're married or unmarried or whatever stage we're in .

Maybe we're just young people who think they'll get married at some point . We still take this into our body , no matter where we're , at what stage of life we're in . This is a universal call to holiness , a universal call to be filled with divine life and love and then walk it into the world .

So as I go back again , I think that's why I'm going to go back to reading Saint Paul . I think that , in view of the impending distress , that is well for a person to remain as he is . Are you bound to a wife ? Do not seek to be free . Are you free from a wife ? Do not seek marriage . But if you do marry , you do not sin .

And if a girl marries , she does not sin . He wants to be very clear that while he's talking about , he would rather see you . If you're not married , just go , you know , become connected to God and bring the gospel in , because we don't have much time . You know .

Christ came into defeat , sin and death here , and to bring us redemption and salvation , bring us back into union and communion with God , open the gates of heaven , and this is a message that Saint Paul says we got to carry out into the world . But you're not sinning if you don't right .

Yet he says those who marry will have worldly troubles , and I would spear you that . So if you get married again , getting back to my introduction you're going to have concerns . You're going to have married .

You're going to have , you know , you're going to have how does he say , worldly troubles and that's in the body and the soul , and even you know worries with each other and troubles with each other , and I would spear you that . He says you know you , look at , if you get married , you take on a wife . You get married , you take on a husband .

Troubles come with it . It's not easy , right ? And I'm going to get back to that . So hang on to that thought for a second . I mean , brother , and the point of time has grown very short .

From now on , let those who have wives live if those they had none , and those who mourn as though they were not mourning and those who rejoices though they were not rejoicing , and those who buy as if they had no goods , and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it . For the form of this world is passing away .

He's just saying this no matter where you're at , what you find yourself doing , however you're , at whatever stage of life , remember to turn yourself to God , because the form of this world is passing away . Nothing here in this temporal life is meant to , you know , infinitely satisfy us . And he goes on to say I want you to be free from anxieties .

The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord , about how to praise the Lord , but the married man , of course , is anxious about worldly affairs , how to please his wife and his interests are divided .

And the unmarried woman or virgin , is anxious about the affairs of the Lord , how to be holy and body and spirit , but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs , how to please her husband . I say this for your own benefit , not to lay any restraint upon you , but to promote good order and secure your undivided devotion to the Lord .

Now we are all to have this really undivided devotion to the Lord , even if you're married . See , once you enter deeply into prayer it becomes habitual . Everything that you do , even when you're trying to please your wife , becomes a prayer . When you're with your kids or your grandkids , it's a prayer . It's always a thanksgiving .

It becomes something that becomes innate in you . I found myself after years now , this doesn't happen overnight , but after years and years , you know trying to live out this life and finding joy and peace in that . But it's a battle of the heart . It's a battle of the human heart between love and lust , selfishness and self-giving . And it's difficult to do .

And so we walk into the story and we become prayerful . But then , when we become prayerful , we see that everything is a gift my wife , my kids , my grand , you know the beauty of nature . Food , drink , all these things are gifts . But at that point in life I have to realize that none of those things are going to totally fulfill me .

And that's why John Paul goes on to say this he said when he's talking about marriage and he's talking about the troubles in marriage , he says in this realistic observation about troubles that you'll have in marriage .

One should see a justified warning for those who think , as at times young people do , the conjugal union , you know , marital love and conjugal union and life should bring them only happiness and joy . Young people do that . I speak to engaged couples . They're all excited about their marriages , and they should be , of course .

They're entering into totally something new . They found somebody to fill their lives . But this is not the end . This is just a very touch at the beginning . You know , in a way it's good that we don't know what's coming next . You know , but anybody that's married more than 15 minutes knows that this is going to demand something from us if it's going to last .

And John Paul writes again this is 83 . This is number three , if you're following me . The experience of life shows that spouses are not seldom left disappointed in what they expected most . The joy of the union brings with it also tribulations of the flesh , about which the apostle writes in 1 Corinthians . These are often troubles of a moral nature .

If he , therefore , if he thereby intends to say the true conjugal love , exactly the one in virtue of which the man will unite with his wife and the two shall become one flesh , it's also a difficult love .

He certainly remains on the grounds of evangelical truth and there is no reason to detect any symptoms of the attitude that was later to characterize manicheism . What John Paul is saying there , manicheism is basically body bad , spirit good , and so your body becomes bad and the things of the flesh become bad , and it's only your spirit is good .

And of course Catholic teaching is that we're a body , a compositable body , and a soul . But here's the problem . We see and this is what I think the manicheists felt too you know in your , without knowing this , our bodies and our soul , our default position when we come into this world is what it's sin and death .

This is the default position for somebody that comes into the world . That's sin and death . We're baptized , we're brought back into the life of God , but then we have to accept it , we have to live it out .

It's only when a body and a soul become united with grace with the Holy Spirit , under that redemption offered by Jesus on that cross , when he pours out his water and the blood come out of his heart , water again for baptism and the washing and confession , and then the blood being the Eucharist . Actually , we become one flesh with God .

So all of this is taken into our interior life so that we can go out and live this out . So this is a big problem and this is why couples are left disappointed . They feel that desire and you know , it's like a rocket right . Our feelings , our eros , everything's starting to go off and then what happens ?

What happens is we think the other person's going to fulfill us , or these feelings will stay the same , or sex is the secret to love , and it's not . It's the interior life of prayer and fasting , the sacrament scripture , the rosary , this battle of the human heart . You have to overcome the battle of the human heart and I'll just read you from Jeremiah .

This is Jeremiah 17 , talking about this battle of the heart . This is so important to overcome this interior heart , and this is only Christ can give this to us . So in Jeremiah it says Thus says the Lord . Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings , who seeks his strength and flesh , whose heart turns away from the Lord .

He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season but stands in a lava , waste , salt and empty earth . Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord , whose hope is in the Lord . He's like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream . It fears not the heat when it comes .

Its leaves stay green In the year of drought , it shows no distress but still bears fruit . More torturous than all else is the human heart , beyond remedy . Who can understand it ? I , the Lord alone , probe the mind and test the heart to reward everyone according to his ways , according to the merit of his deeds . See , this is this .

This short passage from Jeremiah is talking about the whole thing again , that Interior heart . Who alone , who can understand it ? Only God himself , only the Lord alone , probes the mind and test the heart , the inner life of us , and to reward everyone According to his ways , according to the merit of his deeds .

You see how the connection is made between your heart , that the Lord is Knows the mind and the heart , the interior life of a person , and then he's going to judge you on the merits of your deeds , of your Actions out in the world , because but he knows your heart , he knows this starts in the heart .

Here's what happens when a young person gets married , if they haven't taken that time . That Solitude that even Paul is talking about , that solitude that says look at this life , it's going very , very quickly . I don't get a ton of shots at this thing . You know , I want this marriage to work , I want this love to work .

Well , he has to go into the interior life of his heart . His body and soul have to be united with grace . They have to be united with the Spirit , the Holy Spirit . And and again , that's drawing from this act of redemption . And then I say yes to Jesus Christ . Jesus Christ , you know , offers me salvation .

And then , when he goes to the father , what does he do ? He sends the Spirit , and the Spirit dwells within me . Now I have this grace , this Roa , and so I'm walking into the world . This gives me the potential for human flourishing , the potential for human freedom , freedom from the shackles of slavery , from sin .

And then , how does it become efficacious in my life ? How does this indwelling of the Spirit get manifested in the world ? Because I have to go out . That's when it becomes Efficacious , when I talk to my neighbor , or when I take care of my neighbor , when I love my neighbor . You know , there's a reading from the Gospel of Luke .

This is the , the , the rich man and the poor man . And you see this , what happens in the human heart when this , when this doesn't go out . This is Luke 16 .

And Jesus said to the Pharisees there is a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and drunk Sumptuously and dined , dined sumptuously each day , and lying at his door was the poor man , they lame Lazarus , covered with with sores , who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps .

Well then it goes on and he , and you know , at the end of the day , you know , he just walks over this poor man . He doesn't see him , see , his heart is not in the right place . So the rich man died . And this is getting back to , to Saint Paul . The little world passes fast . If you're thinking just the end of the world , know your life , your world .

And then , when the poor man died , he's carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham . Well , the rich man also died . The Bill Gates of the world , the Klaus Schwab's of the world , the Joe Bidens of the world , you know , the Nancy Pelosi's of the world , all these people are gonna die .

And Then God is going to say did you work for the infant , did you save the infant ? Did you , did you understand the sanctity of marriage and did you ? Did you ? Did you allow me to transform your heart so you could bring good things in the world ? Ah , the rich man also died and was buried , and from the nether world where he was in torment .

He raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at a side , and he cried out father Abraham , have pity on me , send Lazarus to dip just the tip of his finger and water and cool my tongue , for I am suffering , tort in these flames . Well , what is Abraham ?

Reply my child , remember that you received what was good during your lifetime , while Lazarus likewise received what was bad , and now he is Comforted here , whereas you are tormented . More , over , between us and you is a great chasm , and it's established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours and from your side to ours .

He said so . Lazarus , or the rich man , says then I beg you , father , send him to my father's home , for I have five brothers , so that he may warm them . Warm them least . They too come to this place of torment . But Abraham replied listen to this , listen to this , listen to this . Abraham replied they have Moses and the prophets , let them listen to them .

Well , the rich man says oh no , father Abraham , but if someone from the dead goes to them , they will repent . Listen to this . If someone from the dead he's looking at Lazarus , what ? What is Jesus doing ? Well , jesus knows he's the one that's going to be , that's , that's going to be coming from the dead . Right , says then they will repent .

Well , what is what does Abraham say ? Then Abraham said if they will not listen to Moses and the prophets , neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the Dead .

Here's Jesus on , the author of the story , the person that comes into the story to restore us , and he says look at , if your heart is not in the right place , you're not going to listen to Moses , you're not going to listen to anybody .

You are going to have someone come back from the dead and they're going to tell you the story Jesus came back from the dead and what ? Neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead , and this is what happened with Jesus .

So let's think about this football game that I was talking about , an Analogy of everything that we've been talking about here and saying Paul's been talking about here . You know , john , paul would call it an adequate anthropology . You understand the game ? Huh , anthropology is the study of Human beings , huh .

And so we have to have an adequate anthropology to know there's an interior life and an exterior life . In Genesis 2 , 7 , god takes the clay and he breathes life into us . He makes this different than all of the rest of creation .

He gives us this deep inner life , and that's inner life is filled with the spirit , this wa , the spirit of God himself that's breathed into us . This is what we had in the beginning . Well , an adequate anthropology Understands that this is the way we were created . And then something happened the fall , sin came into the world .

And when sin came Into the world , you know we got twisted . At the start we no longer knew the game . So what happens in football ? Football has a field , it has rules , it has an understanding of how that game is played .

And when you , when you let's just say that you never knew the rules and you just go out there in this broken on this field , it's kind of broken up , it's got some glass in it you know it's on the , let's say , the inner city where I , where I came from in in the beginning , on the South Shore of Chicago , we'd find a field to play on .

Sometimes it was perfect , sometimes it wasn't , but we're playing the game . Well , if none of us knew how to play the game of football , how do you think that game would go ? Not very well . This is the world that we live in today . We feel like playing the game . We have these desires , we seek to play the game .

Our hearts are telling us something , but nobody's showed us the game , so we don't know how to play football . Well , we have to know the game . See , our inner life says I have a desire to play football , I seek to play the game , but somebody has to tell me . And then I have to . And what happens when I learn the game , when I know the game ?

This is the rules , this is the 10th commandment , this is what Moses brought us , these 10 commandments . But if we reject those 10 commandments , we're gonna reject the guy that comes over , the coach that comes over and tries to show you how to play , and no , I don't wanna play by anybody's rules . Well , this is insanity .

Now , once I desire and somebody teaches me the game of football , then I gotta learn a position . Now I learned just my position . I come into the story . I don't play the whole game of football , because the game of football is all these different people playing together with different positions .

Like St Paul would say , some are the hands , some are the eyes , you know . So we all have our role to play . But even before that , what do we have to learn ? We have to learn the skills of the game . They don't start to teach you a position until they learn what you can do . Well , do you know how to block ? Do you know how to tackle ?

And even before that , you gotta get in shape . And why did they get you in shape ? Why did they push you on the field ? They wanna know what your heart is like , who you are interiorly . So in my heart , in my courageous , do I have the desire to play . You know who am I inside ?

This is what the coach is learning when he starts to tell you to do all these sit-ups and put your equipment on , and you're in the heat and you're running and you're tackling , and he says go run around the field five times and come back here . And you're all going oh my gosh , I thought we're gonna play football . And here we are . What's he learning ?

He's training you to be tougher and also wants to see what you're made out of right . Do you have the courage again , the fortitude you know ? Are you just a complainer or part of the team ? Then he gets you into the weight room and you're learning strength training .

Well , there's some guys that are sitting off to the side yapping , they don't really wanna work out , and other guys are getting in and really working out , really seeing this . So we're building up our interior , but also our physical bodies , right , and to do what we can , go out in the field and play the game . This is the game of life .

Huh , we have to know the big story . Well , we knew the big story and again we get back to Genesis here , where God's got everything created , he's got the football field out there , he's got the Garden of Eden , and then he says , okay , now we're gonna play this game , and the game is called the divine life and love bringing into the world .

The game is love in the truth and truth in love . Who's gonna bring love , trinitarian love , and the truth into the world we are . How are we gonna do that ? Through our bodies and our bodies , what are manifested with body and a soul , and interior life and an exterior life .

Well , god fills that interior life , that soul and we're embodied spirits , and so we're filled with divine life and love . And then we manifest that in our exterior life , because we're created beings and the field God gave us is the world , and this world , this earth especially , but the whole world , but this world that we live on , this gas fired planet .

We are to play the game of love on here , to bring love into the world . That's our job . To bring it into all of creation . And then we start to see all of creation on these little signs , you know , these little signs reflecting something of God , these different clues , and we start to get in tune to love and life and we're filled with the interior life .

We do this through prayer , through the sacraments , through praying the rosary , through scripture , and we're bringing it through . And then God says , okay , let us make man in our image , after our likeness . He's putting the ball players on the field . Now , let him have dominion over all this , all the cattle , all the animals , everything .

So God created him in his image , in the divine image . He created them . How Male and female . He created them . God blessed them , saying to them be fertile , multiply , fill the earth and subdue it . Okay , so I have to be filled with divine life and love . This is what St Paul is saying .

No matter what happens , in the beginning there was no sin , no distortions . We walked into the stage and we became persons of love . That's the image of God is implanted , this raw , this breath from Genesis 2.7 .

He breathes into this clay , into our bodies , and we're livened through our bodies and our souls as a unity , but our soul connected and filled with the Holy Spirit , our bodies , our temples of that Holy Spirit , this love being brought into the world . Now what St Paul is saying look at the world's going by very fast . Sin is in this world .

So , no matter what you do right now , connect back to God , connect to God deeply , and some of you won't be married , some of you are gonna skip this marriage .

So you're not anxious about this , because you had this great desire to be the best football player ever , and if you can give all your time to play in football , you'll have something over the guy that can only do this part time . I remember when I was in martial arts . So I , but I was .

I wasn't doing as a professional , I was not a professional fighter and so I would , but I was teaching martial arts . I have black belts and three different styles of martial arts . I took it seriously . But I but I still had to go to work and I was working as a young guy in restaurants .

I was a professional chef or working in these beautiful dining rooms sometimes . And what happens ? You can't just get a black eye , you can't be walking around , especially where people see you with a big black eye and stuff out in the dining room .

So you know , I mean when you're really fighting , you know you have to work at a kitchen , you know it's better to be a chef , cause at least somebody can see a cut on my face or I'm sore or whatever . At least I was in the back of the house , right .

But here's my point At the end of the day , as I got , as I would compete more and more and more , you realize , wow , you know , there's a big difference between a professional fighter , someone that does it for a living , and someone like me that was that wanted it for self-defense and some tournament fighting and and different things like that .

I like that stuff . But at the end you realize , wow , if I want to do this for a living , I got to take it to another whole level . I got in a ring on a number of occasions with guys that were looking to become pros , and I'll tell you what .

You had to be really careful , otherwise you'd get your head knocked off very , very easily and you realize they brought it to another level . This is what why St Paul says it's better right , because you're giving all this time to God .

You know , now is that boxer or that professional fighter better than I am at marriage or bringing this into my community or by ? You know , this is not what Paul's saying . St Paul's saying look at , go and be filled up with God , because this world is passing by very , very fast . We know we fell from sin and we know chaos is in this world .

And St Paul is in that chaos and he says guys , you know , no matter where your stage is , no matter what you do , turn and open yourself up to God , so you know who's gonna be the football coach there , who's gonna lead you . And then we say it's Jesus Christ . I am the way , the truth and the life .

I'm going to read you something that you've heard me talk about in the past , and it's from this German poet , renee Welke , who did this very , very well , and I'll just leave all of us in here , no matter where you're at , but certainly with these young lovers that St Paul or John Paul was talking about , that are excited about living in union , a community with

another person , but don't realize the troubles that are coming . You need grace to do this . Love is tough . So this German poet says this Renee Maria Welke , r-i-l-k-e .

Well , he identified very keenly this drama and loving relationship , sensing that ending up in this downward spiral , right , these troubles cannot be the only way out , you know , and then maybe ending up in divorce , right ? So he says this this is the paradox of love between man and women . Two infinities , right ? Two infinities . Two .

In the beginning God infused these two people and then they go out into the world , right ? So there's these two infinite beings filled with this Roi . So he says this two infinities meet two limitations . Two infinite needs to be loved , meet two fragile and limited capacities to love .

Only in the ambit of a greater love do they not consume themselves in pretension and not resign themselves , but walk together , each towards a fullness of which the other is a sign . I'm going to stop here for a second . So do you see what happens ? We have two infinite desires that God gave us .

This is written into our hearts , but we're looking at it in a finite world that's going to pass very quickly , and so we have to be filled with this infinite love . This is what fills our interior life , so we can give this to one another , as it was in the beginning .

Only in that ambit of that greater love the poet says do they not consume themselves in pretension and do not resign themselves to this brokenness or divorce , or not even getting married , so many young people . But instead , what are we doing ? We're both aiming toward Jesus Christ .

When that cross goes up , jesus says I'll draw all men and men and women , of course , to myself . And so then we walk together . Then , husband and wife , male and female , we walk together toward that attraction of the cross , each toward a fullness of which the other is a sign my wife . The first time I saw her , oh my gosh , she's so beautiful .

I want to become one with her , I want to get to know her . Well , she's a sign , just a little tiny sign , of the type of intimacy God wants with each of us . That's why I always have to go there first . So then the poet goes on if you do not love Christ . Beauty may flesh more than the person you love .

The later relationship withers because Christ is the truth of that relationship , the fullness to which both partners point and in whom the relationship is fulfilled only by letting Jesus in , as possible for the most beautiful relationship that can happen in life , not to be corrupted and die in time . This is the audacity of his claim . End quote .

This is the reality . I'll end like this no matter where you're at in life , this period , this period that St Paul is talking about , where we turn intensely to God , if you're married or unmarried , if you're young think if you're a young person and you're not married yet , this is the period you're in now .

This is the period that you can lift your heart up to God , come close into God , draw deeply and allow him to transform your heart . So everybody wants to find the right person , but nobody wants to become the right person . So when the right person comes along , they may not go along with you .

They may reject you because you're not the right person , because they're also looking for the right person and you haven't become that right person yet . How about in marriage ? Natural family planning . What's so important about natural family planning , many , many things you've heard me talk about .

But one is that period every month and you know you have that window seven , eight , nine days , maybe 10 days even in some circumstances , where you're not going to have sexual relations with your wife or with your husband . And why not ? Because that's the fertile time .

And this again , I'm assuming that this is a time that you're trying to avoid getting pregnant for whatever good reason you have at that time . And so during that week or so , then this is a time to intensely turn to Christ . Take that time every month to go deep into prayer instead of feeling sorry for yourself I can't have sex today .

Turn it , turn it , turn it . This is such a gift to be received and be filled , and then pour that out , even that week , to your wife . See , it's so beautiful because a woman really respects this from a man . Because he's not . He's giving her a disinterested love John Paul would talk about .

And it's not that he's not interested in his wife , he's not interested in getting anything back . This is what Jesus does on the cross disinterested love . He loves us even when we don't give him anything back . This is so important to marriages and stuff today . You know .

Then , when you come together in Marital Union , can you imagine how beautiful and powerful that is ? And your wife doesn't have a headache anymore because she's open to you and you're not looking at pornography , you're not lusting after her , you're going deeply into Christ , being filled with divine grace , and so is your wife at the same time .

These are very , very important things for marriage . So this application is on the battlefield of all hearts . And think about those in religious life . You know we have so much brokenness in religious life because they're not doing that .

Instead of worrying about marriage and families and stuff like that , they're worried about their own selfish lusts and desires , and then they finally get caught up in the three-fold concupiscence and Satan takes them down because they don't trust in that , in the Lord , they're not going into prayer and receiving the sacraments properly , they're not praying the rosary every

day and reading their scriptures and doing their liturgy , the hours , etc . Etc . And so they're not going out and being a gift to others , they're using others . How sad is that , huh , to be in charge of , say , youth groups or giving talks and then trying to take and take and even use them sexually and exploit them .

You know , this is , this is what happens , right ? So , hey , god bless you . I think that's enough for today . Go in deeply . No matter what state of life you're at , always take time , every single day . Do that three-fold steps that I always talk about .

Just quickly , before you look at that phone in the morning , get down on your knees with our Blessed Mother and just read Luke and what our Blessed Mother said let it be done to me according to your word . And then I add let it be done to me according to your will . You fill my heart .

Then any temptations that come during the day , temptations are not a sin . Jesus Himself was tempted . Let temptations , you know . These are the tests that we have between the battle between Satan and our Lord . Right here is when you get tempted . You're right in the middle of that that fight . And which side do I go ?

Do I open myself up to the attraction of Jesus on the cross or do I allow myself the magnetic pull into evil and to Satan himself ? So temptation every time temptation comes , it becomes an invitation to prayer , to aim myself at the crucified and risen Christ . This will always , always , always .

You're always praying , you're always drawing his life into your heart so he can transform your life and help you overcome those temptations . And third , very , very important at the same time I have to go out and become a person of love . You know , get out off your couch , don't be tempted .

If I'm tempted to look at pornography or whatever , I open that up , I get down on my knees , I ask for the grace and then I go out and do good things in the world . Do good things , act well , because this is all part of it . We are creatures in a created world asked to manifest our interior life into the exterior .

What I do out in the world comes from my own heart . If I bring brokenness in the world , it's because my heart needs to be healed . If I bring good into the world , it's because Christ has come into my heart , restored it , and I'm manifesting Him out into the world the way , the truth and the life . God bless you . Great to be with you today .

Talk to you soon again , everybody , bye-bye .