Welcome to the Become who you Are podcast , a production of the John Paul II Renewal Center . I'm Jack Rigg , your host . I'm glad you're with me . I'm going to talk a little bit about gift of self .
Gift of self is a presentation I do for engaged couples for the Diocese of Rockford and I want to talk a little bit about that because there's so much confusion about why I should get married in the church and I'm talking to all kinds of people about destination weddings and all kinds and natural family planning , the use of contraception and what is blah , blah ,
blah . I want to help out a little bit and I love talking to Gen Z . That's my favorite thing to do nowadays is talking to Gen Z , gen Z , all the Gen Z . But I really have these great conversations with Gen Z men and Gen Z is going about 14 , 15 years old all the way up until 27 , say , maybe even 28 .
I push it a little bit to the 30s , early 30s for the younger millennials . I love those conversations because they're waking up . In this toxic , crazy culture you think it's gone . There's no way that anybody can wake up . These poor kids have been young people , have been brought up in this toxic stew .
But I walked in and I walk into these talks for engaged couples with that sword and the same thing I do with young men and I walk in and I have this big sword it's actually bigger than it looks behind me there and it's heavy .
It's called the Claymore sword , it's the Scottish sword and I have a series we started on Claymore for young men to bring them in spiritual formation and to tell them the big story that we came into . So I want to talk to engaged couples about that , because we came into a very toxic culture . But yet they're getting married in the church .
They're not going to a destination wedding . Some of them don't know why . Some of them aren't even Catholic , right , but they're marrying someone that's Catholic , et cetera , et cetera .
So the Claymore sword started when I was doing a high school retreat and I was talking to , so I got talked into going and and then I started to love him after that , just going back a few years now and so I walked in with the Claymore sword talking to sophomore boys , had to get the okay to walk into with the with the sword in school Right now .
Now maybe , you know , after COVID they probably wouldn't let me in there anymore . But anyways , I had the boys for two sessions and we had a ball and I had a couple of young guys with me too . Somebody else had the girls .
And then we would break into small groups and the small groups were a lot of fun opening things up and my topics were how would a young man treat a young lady if he really loved her ? And part of that was what does it mean to be a man ? And we had a great sessions . And so afterwards we're in the cafeteria .
After those two sessions we're going to do two more co-ed sessions with the boys and the girls in the afternoons and a counselor came up to me that was in charge . She said , jack , we got to change up the agenda . I go why we got it all worked out .
She said well , the girls told the boys what you told the boys about what it means to be a man , but especially how a young man would treat a woman if he really loved her . And the girls want you to tell them what you told the boys .
I said , okay , as I was in on this presentation with the girls not holding nothing back , trying to be cognizant of their feminine hearts a little bit a young girl started to cry and afterwards I asked the counselor , of course I said you know , go ahead and say young girl , why she started to cry . And the counselor came back and she said Jack .
She said I don't have a father in my home . That was the first man that ever stood up and told me what love was and how a young man would treat me if he really loved me . And it was so beautiful that I started to cry . She said I knew that as my relationship with these boys that I had been with got more physical , I felt an emptiness .
But I was told , basically , the lie . Love has been reduced down to a feeling , to an emotion , and further reduced down to sex . And I fell for the lie , but I knew that I wasn't finding what I was looking for and I didn't know what that was .
And then he told me , and I fell for the lie , but I knew that I wasn't finding what I was looking for and I didn't know what that was . And then he told me , and I knew it was true .
You know how many of these young girls you know dressed up as princesses when they were , when they were young , huh , dreaming about the knight in shining armor coming to get them and we realized the core thing of these young men is still alive and well , that life is to be an adventure . We know it's going to be a battle , but we find out .
It's the battle on the heart of the human heart , the battlefield of the human heart between love and lust , between a self-giving person and a self-grasping , between love and pornography . And that's fought on the battlefield of the heart first , and it has to be fought with grace . You won't win that battle by yourself .
You know the forces are against us and the young people get that right . They grew up in a very toxic time and it's not their fault , you know . I wonder how many of them actually know that . So I tell them I said look , the stats show , at least from a year and a half , two years ago , that 70% of all young people are moral , are socialists .
70% , 90% would consider themselves moral relativists . There is no truth . And you know the marketers , the professional marketers , know them better than they know themselves . They got them wrapped up in porn and all these got to buy this and got to buy that , et cetera , et cetera .
And then you know what , somehow they're waking up and they're going enough is enough . We've been lied to and now you know they understand socialism , marx , this neo-Marxist culture . It's a bunch of people , old people , that lust for money , power , sex , and they're driving these ideologies and they're even twisting and distorting and brainwashing these young teachers .
And they're even twisting and distorting and brainwashing these young teachers and they're stealing , they're robbing the innocence of you guys , they're obliterating your moral imagination , so twisting and turning it .
So , then again , love reduced down to a feeling and then down to sex , and then it's nothing , it's meaningless , it's just about a hedonistic pleasure with no meaning or purpose . The same thing with marriage , and that means your body . Body doesn't mean anything and it's a lie .
And and these people that are telling you these lies , they're a bunch of dysfunctional people with dysfunctional relationships , usually with no children , or if they have any children , they bought them . You know , it's in surrogacy and stuff . I mean I don't want to go down that rabbit hole .
So , so disheartening , so dark actually , for these young children , right , these young babies , but anyways , love then in their lives and these older people's lives , uh , becomes dislike for one another in these relationships , and then it even turns into hatred .
This beauty , this power that you feel when , when you , you say , oh , she's the one or he's the one , you feel this power . Why does that power turn into dislike so much in these marriages ? Why does it even turn into hatred and messy divorces , right ? Well then , the interesting thing with gen z , they're seeing this confusion .
It got so crazy that they go nope , it's got to be something more right . So that's what we do , we . We bring them into the story , this bigger story .
You know , I remember talking to a co-ed group and there was a young woman sitting , not right in the front but a couple of rows back , and I saw her when I was talking about Jesus Christ and said something else and she was , like you know , rolled her eyes , and I said what are you thinking back there , you know , taking a chance ?
And she said I don't really believe in God . And I said really , why ? I said because I don't see him where , where is he ? Where is he right ? And I said well , I said he was here . I said do you know ? No , no , serious , when we're talking about jesus christ here on earth , right ? I said well , he walked the earth .
No serious historian would deny that jesus walked the earth , that he changed the world time is literally split in half , right Before Christ and Anno Domanio , the year of the Lord , and then after Christ . I mean he's changed time . So something was special about him .
Now , whether he's God or not might be your question , but he was real , concrete person , right and so . But I don't see him today . Right , I said there's a lot of things you don't see . I said let me ask you do you see the air that you're breathing ? Are you breathing air ? I don't know . How are you going to prove it ? Right ? How about gravity ? Right ?
Something's holding you in your seat . Where's gravity ? Tell me where it is . Can you see it ? No , I said there's things happening all around you . Are you sitting still ? And she goes duh . I said no , you're not . I said this whole earth is spinning on its axis at 1,100 miles an hour . Why do you think you're sitting still ? And that's not all .
We're revolving around a nuclear fireball 93 million miles away , at 67,000 miles an hour , while we're spinning . And guess what ? Young lady , while you're sitting there , right , snorting over there . I said we can measure , science can now measure that there was a time before time existed , that we have the Big Bang .
It's the scientific theory , right , it's the , it's the scientific theory right of when the world began . Is the big bang .
Do you know that right now , it started to explode out then and it's been exploding ever since , about 440 000 miles an hour out the whole universe , while you're , while you're spinning on your axis , revolving around a nuclear fireball , the whole thing is exploding out and and you are sitting there thinking I could see everything .
No , there's much that you can't see , young lady , but there's something that you really can't see that we all desire and we all want , and that's love . Nothing compares to love when you see another person and , ooh , I see the boy and I see the boy , I see the girl . What's happening there ? Right , what is happening there ? Something's happening to you .
You don't see it . Really , you feel something . But what is that ? What is love , young lady ? And I said did you create the universe ? She said no . I said anybody in this room create the universe ? No , anybody here . Write the big story that you came into ? No , no , huh .
So what you're telling me is you came into a story and , as crazy and as toxic as it looks , it's a love story . And you know that in your heart , because there's an echo in your heart for something more . And it's not only for something more , it is for love , for love .
How many people , when I'm speaking to engaged couples , huh , how many of you , if you're listening , how many of you dreamt of a average marriage ? Ooh , I want an average marriage . Just give me an average marriage . No , you dreamt since you were a young girl especially the girls , right , the women about something beautiful , something special , right ?
But what happens to these marriages when you don't understand the story ? You don't understand where we came from , you don't understand where we're going , you don't understand the big story that you were exploded into , that had a beginning and has an end . Boom up in this life . I said have an end and it's going someplace . What is it ? It's a love story .
Do you know how that works ? No , so that's like a movie . You got through 40 minutes late . You ever get to a movie really late . You haven't seen the beginning , you don't know how it's going to end . Yet you came into the theater with your popcorn and you're trying to figure it out , and then you give up on trying to figure it out .
You just do whatever you want to do and you wonder why you don't get the movie . That's how life can be like that . You know , before you met , I ask young people huh , before you met , what were you looking for ? Take it back . So I've been married for quite a while myself , but I can still remember a time , of course , before I met my wife .
What was I seeking ? What was I looking for ? Friendship , someone to spend time with . Right , I was looking for love . At the end of the day , I was looking for love . So what is love ? Right , throw some love up here to me . You guys . Throw some love up . You know how do you do that . You know people reaching their . How do you do that ?
How do you express love to another person ? Through your body , the way , the words you say yeah . Through your bodily actions , yeah . But what is love ? Throw it up here . And I got , say , I got a whiteboard behind me .
I'll put the formula up there and then , if your love ever gets twisted into dislike or hatred for one another , you know you could look up at the formula . Oh , yeah , yeah , yeah , the formula I got . To get back to the formula , right , what happened to me personally ? I was married for about 10 years and with three little kids .
We had four , but we lost one , three little kids and something was happening to my marriage . It was falling apart , our marriage right , and it didn't look good . And I remember getting down on my knees Now I had been away from the church for 20 years . I was a non-practicing Catholic when I got married .
My wife was a non-practicing Methodist when she got married and I said , god , do you have a plan ? And I think God smiled at me , right , he said yeah , jack , I have a plan . You're not following it very well . I literally prayed for that .
God , give me some insight into this , because whatever I'm doing is not working and I don't know how to get this back . I got up off my knees and I got a call almost right away from Orlando , florida .
It was my mom and I'm the oldest of five boys and the fourth brother down , danny , was dying of AIDS at that time and he had gone into drug rehab in Orlando , florida and then got into a homosexual lifestyle out there through the therapist when he was about 25 . By the time he was 29, . He was dying of AIDS .
We had gone back and forth to see him a couple of different times . I got up off my knees and I get a call and the hospice nurse said this is probably his last day . Can you make it here , you guys , or at least you know , right ? And I said hey , thank you Jesus , thank you God . This is how you answer my question . Do you have a plan , right ?
Well , it was the plan . I got there and I'm not going to go through this right now , but in that experience of him dying , he's the only one that had come back into the Catholic Church at that time . He had been molested , actually in the church when he was between 11 and 9 and , say , 11 or 12 years old , but he never told anybody .
Got into drugs later on , really bothered him , got , like I said , into a homosexual lifestyle and as he was dying , you know , he was in a coma , basically , and while we were there whispering in his room , he started to come up .
We saw him battling up to the surface I'm just giving you the cliff notes on this and he started to open up his eyes and I said , danny , you can hear us , can't you ? And I touched his arm and he said let's pray . I said , danny , his mouth was really dry . I said , danny , did you say let's pray ? And he said pray to God .
And in that prayer , in that time , we tried to pray with him . He didn't try to pray with us , he was too weak . He just came to the surface , gave us a message and then , boom , that was it . I felt the presence of God . I mean an encounter .
I remember Pope Benedict XVI said you know , our faith is never going to be an ethical decision or some lofty philosophical idea that you'd argue somebody into or out of . And I'm looking at this young lady again , right , and I said it's always going to be an encounter with an event .
It's going to be an encounter with the person , and that encounter will give you a new horizon and a decisive direction for your life . I had that encounter there . And then I had it again two days later at his memorial masses . I was going to receive the Eucharist and I realized that Jesus was in that Eucharist . His presence was there and the encounter .
It blew my mind right . So this brought me back into the church . I went to confession , I got cleaned up . That's what this is the divine mercy . You've seen that picture before . This is divine mercy . The Sister Faustina was to have painted . Jesus himself told her to do that .
That's when Jesus got hit with the lance , right , basically a big sword lance into the heart , and then water and blood came out . The water is the nuptial bath baptism and then confession to get you ready for the nuptials , for the wedding feast . And then the red , of course , is the Eucharist to become one flesh with God himself , right ?
Well , this is the sign of marriage . This is the sign of reflection of marriage . God's not a sexual being , but he created our sexuality and marriage to be a tiny reflection of Trinitarian love in the world .
I remember coming back , looking for a way to express that to my wife right , I'm coming back , I feel this , but my wife doesn't like me or the Catholic church . And I remember getting back down on my knees in the chapel and saying , okay , I'm getting it , god , but what are you going to do about her ? What are you going to do about my wife ?
I'm not going to do it . I heard so clearly right , you're going to do it . I'm not going to do it . I heard so clearly right , you're going to do it . And I looked up at St Joseph and again , I'm just going to give you the cliff notes on this I realized , ooh , how did he do that ?
Right , he was marrying this beautiful Jewish girl and he never really even consummated . How , how , how did you do that ? How ? How did you fall in love ? I need to do that right , because our relationship , our intimacy , was totally gone , absent at that time , and I was angry . I was tempted by different women that I worked with and stuff .
I mean the temptations were brutal , that sword , I mean I dealt with that sword and that battlefield of the heart for many years . Actually it was the toughest battle I ever fought and I was a fighter as a kid . I mean fought in tournaments and stuff like that too , you know .
But anyway , St Joseph came into my life and , praying through him , I know he brought the graces and helped me get through this thing . When I came back into the church , I was introduced to John Paul II and John Paul II said Christ and the church have answers to those questions that you're asking . Jack , who am I ? First of all ?
What's the meaning and purpose of my life ? Why were we created , male and female ? How do I find happiness here on earth ? How do I find love that satisfies forever , where love doesn't turn into dislike and a hatred ? How do I find that love that arrows that power of love back . He unpacked what's called theology of the body .
It's so beautiful , this teaching right . And I came back into the church and I'm reading John , the first chapter of John John's Gospel , and in there John sees Jesus coming down toward the Jordan River , john's baptizing in Bethany , near the Jordan . And he sees Jesus and he goes the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world , and he does it .
And he goes . The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world , and he does it again . The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world . Exclamation mark he knows he sees now for the first time who Jesus really is . And so two of John the Baptist's disciples we find out it's John the Evangelist and Andrew Peter's brother start to follow Jesus .
Jesus turns to them and says what do you seek ? What are you looking for ? What do you seek ? This is what he does to all of us and he did it to me that time , as I'm reading this , when I first came back into the church what do you seek ? And I said I want God's plan . He said the disciples said Rabbi , which means teacher , where are you staying ?
The disciples said Rabbi , which means teacher , where are you staying , like , yes , I sense you have something there . We want to spend more time with you . And Jesus didn't give him some philosophical , some lesson in philosophy or theology , some moral teaching . Go read this or do this . He just said come and see , come and see , encounter me , come and see .
So I saw that and I decided to do that . So I started to go to mass more sacraments , more especially mass and the Eucharist . But you got to go to confession and then sit in prayer . Prayer is just where you meet those two hearts , right . And so , young lady , looking at that young girl , again , you encounter him .
If you're open , you're going to encounter him . When you're ready , you ask , you ask and you're going to encounter him . And so , because what did Jesus know when he says , what do you seek , young lady ? He asked you what do you seek ? And why does he say that ? Because he knows something .
He knows there's an echo of this larger story in your heart , because he created you and in the Imago Dei , in the image and likeness of him , he has this love story in his heart , this mercy , this truth , this goodness , and he wants you to have that . That's how you were created in the beginning , before sin .
See , this isn't a story about learning more information and Googling it right . This isn't our DNA . The beauty of this is when your heart opens up and you hear the gospel in such a way . You have that aha moment . Right , matthew 19, . Jesus , john Paul , has me read this and you can think about this . I'm dealing with this relationship .
I'm asking God do you have a plan ? And he says read Matthew 19 . This is in this theology of the body . And the Pharisees came up to Jesus and tested him by asking is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause ? And he answered have you not read that ? He who made them from the beginning ? He's pointing back to the beginning .
This is the beginning of the story , guys . He made them male and female , and he said for this reason , a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife , and the two shall become one . For this reason , a man shall leave his father and mother and the two shall become one . So they are no longer two , but they're one .
What , therefore , god has joined together ? What , therefore , god has joined together ? No man should put us under . No man should separate . And they said to him . Well then , why did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce in the Old Testament and put her away ? Why did Moses give up and just say , okay , you can divorce your wife ?
Jesus said ah , because of the hardness of your hearts , moses allowed you to divorce your wives , but from the beginning , the model in the beginning , it was not so . So you see , this battle's been going on for a long time . And what does he point to the beginning when he says that that they were created in the Imago Dei ?
He points back to Genesis , chapter 1 . It's the most amazing thing , this is the most important thing that God wants to tell you in the whole Bible that creation is all this awe and wonder , it's beauty all around you , but the crown of creation is this love story , isn't it ? This is why Genesis , chapter 1 , verse 26 to 28 . Two verses , that's it .
Let us make man in our image , in the divine image we created them right . Let him have dominion Over the fish of the sea , the birds of the air , the cattle , over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground . God created man in his image , in the divine image he created them . How Male and female .
He created them , god blessed them and said to them be fertile , multiply , fill the earth and subdue it . Be fertile , multiply , fill the earth and subdue it . What is his first commandment ? Have sexual union , marital union .
I mean , you know , you could say god and sex in the same language if you , if you're , if you realize what you're doing and you know , certainly if you're a catholic . God created sex . He thinks it's beautiful . It's us that would twisted it and distorted . So what is god doing ? He , he basically , is flipping the selfie . What does that mean ?
What do we know about God , the Father , the Son , the Holy Spirit . The Father pours his love out to the Son . The Son receives that love and it's so beautiful and profound it comes out in the form of a person . We say the person is the Holy Spirit . This is not a sexual thing , again , right , this is a spiritual thing .
God doesn't have a created body like us . Huh , he's a spiritual creature . But he creates our sexuality , right , because we're not just we're not just angelic creatures . There's three kinds of creatures . There's the divine creatures father , son and holy spirit . There's angelic beings right , I should call them beings , right , divine beings , not creatures .
Divine beings Father , son and Holy Spirit , angelic beings , right , just spirit and human beings . That's us . We are a combination of spirit and body . Right , god takes in Genesis , chapter 2 , verse 7 , he takes the clay and blows his spirit into us . We have intellect , reason , free will . It's so beautiful . So what happens here in Genesis 1 ?
It's like the opening scene from the Lion King . Have you seen that ? Right ? I mean it's gorgeous . The sun coming up behind the mountains . Everything started to grow , right , multiply , fill the earth right , plants , animals , and then , and then , and then . God seems to draw back into himself . He goes into himself .
He says now we're ready On the sixth day I got it all set up . I'm gonna flip the selfie . Right , he's taking a selfie of the Trinitarian love story . He's gonna flip it and make a created version of that here in this world . And going to flip it and make a created version of that here in this world . And how does he do that ?
He creates this male and female and flips it into the world . So what do we see , right ? I remember after my wife delivered our first child , you know , and I held that child and after a while , after my knees stopped shaking , I sat down and I go . Ooh .
Nine months before this , my wife and I the two became one and there was a love bomb explosion that went off in a moment in time , called a baby . Two became three , right . Two became one . One person became three , three persons in one , a tiny created reflection of three persons in one . The Trinity of three persons in one , the Trinity .
We are to bring the love story , the Trinitarian love story , in our little way , in our little taste of it here on earth . This is what we're created to do . Love only gets into the world if we bring it in .
This is the two great commands to be filled with divine life and love and to become that Well , the primordial sacrament , the primordial , the first sacrament , right and the only sacrament at that time was marriage . Marriage being reflective of God , is his love in the world right ? God is love . We hear that in the first letter of John , chapter eight .
Huh , I think it's chapter eight , might be chapter four , chapter eight , first letter of John . It's not that long , you could find it . God is love , not that we love God , but that God loved us first . So a body and a soul in the beginning , before sin , plus grace infused with grace gave us the potential for human freedom , the potential for human flourishing .
Right there we're connected already . Then he says go out , multiply , fill the earth and subdue , itue it , go into action , bring it into the world . What happens when we blew that out ? And you know , we blew that out . Where do we do that ? We did it at the tree , that tree of the knowledge of good and evil .
Right genesis , chapter three the serpent tempts eve . Then he says did god tell you you can't eat of any of the trees of this garden ? She says no , god didn't say that . God just said you can't eat of the tree in the middle of the garden . The rest of these it's all yours .
It's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and if you eat of that tree you will die . Well , what is that tree ? Why can't I eat of that tree ? Look it , I created this world already . It . Look at , I created this world already . It's already created with meaning and purpose . It's a love story . It's it's got truth , goodness , beauty in it .
And you're the crown of creation to bring my love story , my trinitarian love story , into this world , to be infused with my love and my grace . You can't change that , but you're free . You're free not to do that , not to bring love into the world . But if you do that , you will die . You'll bring sin and death in the world and this is what happened .
Think about this now . We blew this , basically exhaled disgrace . Right , we chose Satan . Right , you can be like gods . We felt they're a lie . You can call evil good and good evil . This is moral relativist . 90% are moral relativists . Thank goodness they're waking up because otherwise the nation and the world is done . You know , you can't live like that .
It's just chaos , hatred , chaos , violence . Like that . You're filled with Satan . You could see these politicians just spewing violence like demons right their eyes , and they're just right , it's really demonic and they really are taking on evil and doing evil in the world . They become evil and you see this all around .
Look at the culture of death right the abortion we demand , the right to kill our own children , marriage is meaningless , et cetera , et cetera , et cetera . You could see we become like cut flowers . So , like cut flowers , the grace is taken away . So , body and the soul without grace . The default state is what ? What's your default position ? It's sin and death .
Look around you , you know , and the little girl wants to raise her eyes again . I said look it , you're going to find out . You don't have to believe me , you just keep on going . And what's going to happen ? There's a six-foot hole waiting for all of us , with a white tombstone on it , chisel poised , ready to put your what , your name and your date on it .
Nobody gets out of here without this , so you better figure it out at some point , right ? And in the meantime , do you become a person of love or do you grasp and you take right ? Remember what happened when sin came into the world ? What did Adam and Eve do ? They put fig leaves on , you know , or loincloths . And where did they put them ?
They put them on their eyes no , on their ears , no , they put them on their sexual parts . Why ? What's wrong ? You know , I thought you were created good . Now you got to cover yourself up . No , why did they do that ? Because when they gave into lust , selfishness turned away from authentic love . The way we looked at one another .
We covered ourselves , not because the body wasn't good , but because the body was very good , and it's the way we looked at one another . Lust came in . The battlefield of the heart started right there between love and lust . So this is an old story we're fighting , and when young people are fighting that story , they need to know that they're in a battle .
I love Elon Musk . I love Elon Musk . Elon Musk has done so much . In fact , I think without Elon , our country would be down tubes If he didn't buy X , if he didn't support Trump . He's doing so much work . He put it all on the line . You know he's an amazing guy , but his love life is not so good .
Huh , he has a lot of children I think maybe 12 children now , but with three different women at least , and he talked about it some years ago . He said he had a rough childhood and the reason I want to bring him up because he's at the tree too . He's at the tree and he's been given so much and he's seeking the truth . He's seeking the truth .
He wants to know he talks about this all the time what is the meaning and purpose of life ? Right , and he's a genius , but yet he didn't get the gospel in his heart yet . But yet he didn't get the gospel in his heart yet . You know , we got to pray for him . Everybody here listen to this .
Say a prayer for Elon Musk , and I remember to bring him into my rosary later today . I got to try to remember to do this every day and put him on the list because he's so close . But he said I had a rough childhood . My parents divorced when I was nine years old and he went to live with his estranged father , who he called a terrible human being .
And so , he said , he was very lonely growing up . He never wanted to be alone . He was mercilessly bullied . So he had five sons with his first wife . Can you imagine five sons ? Maybe if he'd stayed with her he would have had six or seven more kids or whatever . It would have been this beautiful thing . But then he left those kids .
He said his dad was terrible , left them , he would never want to do this . And then he did the same thing . See these patterns . Even if you don't want to do it , when you don't have the grace of Jesus Christ and say yes to him , you don't have the grace . You want to do good and he's done so many good things .
But we got to pray that he has the grace . He said if I'm not in love , if I'm not with a long-term companion , I cannot be happy . I will never be happy without having someone Going to sleep alone kills me .
It's not like I don't know what that feels like being in a big empty house and the footsteps echoing through the hallway , no one there , no one in the pillow next to you . How do you make yourself happy in a situation like that ? How do you make yourself happy ? See , he always thinks that we make ourselves happy .
That's the paradox of happiness , that's the paradox of love . It's not when you grasp and try to make yourself happy . It's when you give yourself away to another person . Now , he gives himself away to a lot of different things , but when it comes to love , somehow it's disconnected . That's how I was . I , in my own marriage , I remember that's .
I fell down on my knees . I was an entrepreneur , I was building stuff , not another scale of elon musk , but in my own little world , right , and it was like two disconnected stories . But they're not disconnected . They're telling one story . But what holds this all together is jesus christ and what he did on the cross , right , it's a beautiful , powerful story .
And so we go on like this and so , elon , I pray , let's pray for him . But I want to go into Genesis 2 . Genesis 2 will actually even tell us even more about this because , remember , jesus pointed to Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 when he spoke in Matthew 19 .
In Genesis 2 , think about this as three original experiences original solitude , original unity and original nakedness without shame . And this is so beautiful , so powerful . And so this is Elon again . So say Elon , or say any of us , or Adam , adam , mankind , that's what Adam means , mankind .
It didn't matter in the very beginning , because when God created Adam , there was no Eve at first . It didn't matter , right , I mean it didn't matter . I was just a human being , because there was no sexuality yet , so no way to share this yet . So it could have been any one of us , but God invites us into the story .
So listen for those three things original solitude , original unity , original nakedness without sin . Right , the Lord God . Genesis 2 , I'm going to start at verse 15 . The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it . Remember this is Genesis 2 , before sin .
And the Lord God commanded the man , saying you may eat freely of every tree in the garden , but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat , for the day that you eat of it , you shall die . Then the Lord God said it's not good that a man should be alone . So now everything was good , right , I created this good , this good .
This is the first time that God pulls back and he says now it's not good that man should be alone for the first time , so I'm going to make a helper fit for him . So , out of the ground , the Lord God formed every beast of the field , every bird of the year . This is the opening scene for the Lion King , right ?
He's filling this all in second day , third day . And then he said and he brought all these animals then to the man to see what he would call them . And whatever the man called every creature , that's what his name would be . So God himself says I want you to name the animals , elon , right ?
So Elon could have thought he was a scientist , he was put here to discover all this stuff . That's what he does . And then God says okay , it's all yours , just don't eat from that one tree . Then he says no , no , no , come here , I've got something else for you , elon , I want to show you something else .
And he says I want you to name all the animals as he was . There's no helper fit for him . He sees all the animals with helpers .
So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and while he slept he took one of his ribs , closed it up in its place with flesh , and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and he brought her to the man . And when Elon or any of us and this is an adam , of course wakes up , he's like he sees her .
You got to see this primordial force , with the fog coming up like a mist and he's rubbing his eyes and he's been exploring and it's been an incredible adventure . And now , boom , oh , he looks up . What ? Who does he see walking through the past ? You know , out of the forest , a woman . Oh , bone of my bone , flesh of my flesh .
He says he knows right away . Oh , this is something different . This is another person . This could be the helper fit for me . Huh , a soulmate . What has she got on ? Nothing , and there's no shame , no using somebody . See , he sees right away , he sees your body , not as an object to use , but as someone to love .
This is what christ gives us again , right when he comes back into the story . And she said therefore , a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife and they both become one flesh , right , right , and the man and his wife were both naked and they were not ashamed . They were naked and not ashamed . What a beautiful story .
Huh Called into this story , into the story , and to be filled with divine life and love . And who gives us this ? I'm gonna finish with this how do you do that ? How do I come back into that love story ? Because we did come into a fallen world . Elon me , you , everybody . We're all fallen , we all have our faults .
We need a savior , we need a redeemer , certainly a body and a soul . Our default position is really sin and death , but we have a savior Jesus . Remember , in the last supper . In fact , I'm going to read this to you . This is from Luke . In Luke , this is the last supper .
So this is Jesus and he wants to bring this power of his , this love story , down to us from generation to generation . And this is Jesus . Institutes the Eucharist . This is this again Baptism , water for confession , nuptial bath , getting ready for a wedding , which is the Eucharist , the red , and when the hour came , he sat at the table .
This is the Last Supper with his apostles with him . And he said to them I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer , for I tell you I shall not eat of it until it's fulfilled in the kingdom of God .
And he took a chalice and when he gave thanks , he said take this and divide it among yourselves , for I tell you that from now on , I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes . And he took the bread and when he had given thanks , he broke it and gave it to them , saying this is my body , which is given for you .
Do this in remembrance of me . And likewise , the chalice after supper , saying this chalice is poured out for you . This is the new covenant in my blood . When you think covenant in the Old Testament , covenant is what Is like a marriage . It's more than a legal contract , it's something between persons very deep and it's a relationship .
And so he's the new covenant , he's the new relationship . The bride you know Jesus . He's looking for his bride . Well , we're his bride . Right , jesus ? The bridegroom crimes , the marriage bed of the Lamb to pour himself out for you and I , right , to give himself . This is my body , given for you . Well , this is what a man offers to his wife .
This is my body , given for you . We're a reflection of Trinitarian love . Jesus comes on and takes our flesh on , walks into the story and gives us this as the bridegroom pours himself out to us , and in that pouring out we receive him and we receive that grace . And then Jesus goes what he goes into the remember .
After he comes back from the dead , the Jews , the apostles , are hiding in the upper room for fear of the Jews right , fear of getting killed . Jesus comes right in , he doesn't even open the door , he comes right in . He's got a transfigured body now .
And so he comes in and they see him and right away he knows they're going to be nervous , even ashamed now , because they all left except for John . And what does he say ? Look , I'm just going off the top of my head , but peace , be with you . And then he repeats it my peace , be with you . I'm giving you my peace again .
And then he breathed on them , received the spirit . It's only the second time you hear that . You heard it in Genesis , chapter two . God takes the clay and breathes himself into it Again . Intellect , reason , free will , different than all the rest of the creatures . This is what Adam learned , as he's naming all the animals . There's no helper fit for me .
I'm different than all of creation . I'm different than all the bodies . I'm looking for a person to be with right Elon , to be a reflection of Trinitarian love . But in order to sustain that , I have to be connected , as it was in the beginning . Sin has disconnected us like a cut flower , and so we fall into love . But we're like cut flowers .
It looks good for a little while , you put it on the table , the flowers in a vase , but after a little while they start to what ? Love turns into dislike , sometimes even into hatred . It's like a rocket that runs out of rocket fuel , or it crashes here and it crashes there . What's the answer ?
This is my body given for you , right , and these masses , right , have been brought down for 2,000 years all over the world . This is my body given for you . So I look back at that girl who said you can't see it , but she doesn't go to church , because if you go to church , you see it all around the stained glass , the crucifix .
You see on the altar , what's happening , right , that we're representing that one-time historical event . We enter into that one-time historical event . We make that one-time historical event present in this world . This is what Jesus said I will never leave you . And he gave us the Eucharist so I can see him , I can taste him .
But the biggest thing is I encountered him and I knew this after my brother died . I had that encounter . It was amazing , amazing encounter and I knew he was real in the Eucharist . It's one of the biggest . I mean , how could you have anything bigger than that to think the God of the universe actually comes to us ?
Well , anyways , I started to be filled with this . I started to turn around and just be kinder and loving to my wife , even when she didn't love me back . But I had the power to do this now through the Eucharist , through the sacraments , through prayer . It took a long time to get our marriage back on track . My wife's not a practicing Catholic .
If she was , she could have went to the sacraments . It would have been faster , I know it would have been , but she wasn't . So her heart was just hard and I really learned a lot about myself and about God and about the depth that the relationship wants , god wants . So he showed me in my pain and in her pain too .
She was suffering too , but I wasn't going to be a part of bringing her any more of that pain . That's what I would pray for . I wanted to be a person of love in her life . I saw her one day , like in a vision almost , but I saw her and I had this picture of her as a little girl in her princess outfit coming out .
She was a farm girl coming out in her farm with her little carriage and dreaming that some knight in shining armor was going to take the sword and protect her . And the first thing you have to protect her from is yourself , your own lust , your own selfishness . And I fought on that battlefield of the heart and it was the most brutal time .
I mean , it was amazingly brutal . But God is there for us to fill us up and give us the grace . You'd never make it and you're not supposed to make it by yourself . God would give you the grace . St Joseph , our blessed mother , the angels and the saints , john Paul II with his theology of the body , all pouring themselves into you .
And then you know it's real . Then you know because you encounter it and you become a person of love and you look around at all the dysfunction and you just want to tell people you don't have to live like that right . Hey , god bless you . Great to be with you . Thanks , everybody . Talk to you again soon . Bye-bye .