Fr. Larry Richards - Reason for Our Hope Foundation

thank you Jesus Christ is here so while you're standing now get on your knees before the king of kings and Lord of lords and then the Father and the Son Holy Spirit amen Jesus we are your men and we come before you kneeling before you as our God asking you for your orders wanting to be transformed into you into this world Jesus send your Holy Spirit upon us which is no cowardly spirit but one that will make us strong loving and wise help us the full give us the gift of full surrender this day that we may leave this place doing your will and becoming your Saints we beg you these things Lord Jesus and you're mostly name amen Mary Mother of Jesus pray for us good st. Joseph pray for us and a father suddenly spirit amen okay are you ready no I don't think so anyway when we come together as men we got to figure out what it is God created us for who we are why are we different and do everything that God wants us to do and be everything that God wants us to be and I think that most people when I go around like this past week I was in Lancaster Pennsylvania I was doing a parish mission and I go back to my parish tomorrow have masses tomorrow and then I'll be in Lexington to Kentucky at the Cathedral they're doing the parish mission and what I'm dealing with all these different men and women I always take for granted that most people that are in the congregation that are here at a Men's Conference really don't have a relationship with Christ they're good men they're good solid Catholics you know I call them Notre Dame Catholics I'll soon have a degree from Notre Dame and liturgy you know Notre Dame South Bend I'll have it in liturgy that'll make me a liturgist and you know the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist don't you you can negotiate with a terrorist but anyway and so in dealing with that I called Notre Dame Catholic anybody been donating football game there you go you get there the night before you fill a joist Center you go nuts you can't move then you wake up the next morning at 4 o'clock in the morning so you can go into being part of that what do you call it the tailgates and they all get drunk none of you people did I'm sure but the other ones and then they go to the game God they go nuts over a pigskin the same people go in the Church of those and get in the Basilica and they go Lord be with you also with you you know I don't think but oh I'll die for the faith I'm a Notre Dame Catholic but they're not in love with Jesus to be a man of God gentlemen means you got to be in love with Jesus Christ you know remember that yeah I don't know if they have those bumper stickers down here I'm sure with all the Baptist's and Church of God it says real men what love Jesus a real man loves Jesus Christ and is willing to die for him and gentlemen if you're gonna follow Jesus Christ you better die if you have not yet died for Christ you have not yet been his disciple you're going through the motions you're thinking all these great things but you're truly not as disciple so the first thing you got to do to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is you got to sit at the feet of the master so to prove that you're sitting at the feet of the master show me your Bibles let me see them you pagans someone has to be a man book up that does not count as a Bible even though there are 173 verses of Scripture in that Bible I mean that book but gentlemen first of all you gotta get a Bible huh and you need a Catholic Bible correct you know you can buy them everywhere you're in Bible Central down here but you need to get one it's a Catholic Bible this is you ever see a picture of st. Paul you know I'm not a picture you see a statue of st. Paul or not here but I'm sure they have statues of st. Paul's in your diocese somewhere you ever seen a statue of st. Paul st. Paul has something in his hand you know what it is a sword why is he have a sword in his hand because it says in his with the word that the Bible is a two-edged sword gentlemen if you're going to be a man you need to be armed and if you're gonna be armed you need the Word of God so you need to go and get a Bible and you need to be a Catholic Bible some of you have the King James Version that's a Bible it does not have all the books in it sorry you know because why why we we have Mia books we followed some to urgent you know some to urgent that's the one that Jesus followed right now again I'm simplifying this a million times but there was the group that everybody followed was the subdued and there was only one Hebrew Scriptures until 70 or 72 AD what happened then does anybody know the temple was destroyed so Hadrian kami now you know about the Sahid Rijn huh it was made up of a couple different things there was more but two primarily but there's other ones there and they were the Pharisees and the Sadducees now the difference between Pharisees and Sadducees is Pharisees believed in life after death they believed in resurrection they believed in angels they believed in invisible things the Sadducees did not believe in that life after death that's why they're so sad you see now you have a Pharisee and you have a sad you see now sad you some of you might have to explain it to the person next to you but anyway so you have the sadducees now a lot of the Christian a lot of Pharisees became Christians st. Paul was a Pharisee Nicodemus was a Pharisee a lot of Pharisees became Christians because of the whole teaching on the whole resurrection of Jesus Christ a lot of Sadducees did not now so after the temple was destroyed the Sahid room came together and they had a wheat it was like the the Rome being destroyed it was a humongous thing so they refocused on their kin in the scripture and they dealt with and they removed from the Canon seven books of the Old Testament and while all carlin of course they don't call the Old Testament because why what does every one of those seven books have to deal with there life after death right so that's the whole thing like again I do a lot with men Promise Keepers you know Promise Keepers and I'm eight once a month with First Assembly of God grace Baptist for the last twelve years my best friends in Christianity are Christian pastors and we pray for three hours and we don't talk about how much money to put in this week and I'll believe people how many programs have we talked about Jesus huh and we focus on Jesus and we pray about Jesus but it's so funny when they asked me to speak like I just a couple months ago I spoke at the Baptist Church and so when I tell them gentlemen gentlemen watch your Bibles and they all pull out their Bibles I go hmm and then they always have a heart attack that I'm a priest and I have a Bible like ooh are you a real priest and I always say I always say this was ours before it was yours thank you very much but anyway yeah so when I'm when I'm with my brothers and the other fates I always sit there and I'm sure there's people of the other face here welcome but when I'm there I always sit there and say when I'm doing a Promise Keepers I say okay gentlemen you got your Bibles I'm impressed I want you to open your Bibles to see act chapter two and they'll sit there and I go oh you don't have that one do you yeah I'm going to hell anyway but the reality is it is a great book for a man because it says in Syriac chapter two it says my son when you come to serve the Lord prepare yourself for trials huh and so often the guys come and say hey father where do we get one of those Bibles in the Catholic Church come here I'll show you anyway so just kidding those of you aren't Catholic I'm just kidding anyway said no not anyway but the reality is that you've got to spend time with the word one of our Saints st. Jerome's says what ignorance of the scripture is ignorance of Christ huh and so again those of you who are older than me should know I'm one of the old-time AI Bishop calls me right of Trent because not in the way I present of course I present in a different way but my theology is very solid theology now again in dealing with kids I taught all boys for eight years at a Catholic boy high school and again my kids on you know Friday or Saturday nights I'd be going around and smoking stuff that wasn't cigarettes and drinking stuff that wasn't Pepsi you know when a kid God gets a high or drunk they get really philosophical did you know that you know sometimes I used to get a call from my kids who graduate from college and they're getting drunk on a Saturday night once I got a call it three o'clock in the morning on a Saturday night hey father what you doing oh nothing just waiting for you to call me that's about all you know just have Mass at 7 o'clock but hey what do you want you ever sit here and try to explain to a bunch of drunken kids why it's sex before marriage is wrong you know it went on for like three hours I won but that was all beside the point so when they sit there they get real philosophical and so kids will sit there and say hey man what's the meaning of life and then a guy will sit there and say I don't know I just want to have a you know have a lot of money and get a big cars and have sex as many girls I can and do all that stuff and yeah man that sounds good what do you think the meaning of life I don't know a girl answer I just want to be happy and then someone else and all have the meaning of life and I'll have their ideas of it but the church has always taught us the meaning of life right the meaning of life is who made me God made me why did God make me God made me to know him to love him and serve him in this world so I can be happy with him forever in the next so the purpose of life is to know God so the first question I want to ask you this morning is do you know Jesus Christ not do you know about him because again one of the first confessions I ever heard I used to it when I was first I did I've done over a thousand retreats throughout these last 22 years and most of them have been when high school kids that's why it's an easy transition to a bunch of men but anyway anyway so what I'm doing with them you know once I was the last confessions and it was right after confession this kid - when - eight years Catholic grade school for years Catholic High School he was just about ready to leave it was the last day of school and I looked at him after his confession I said son do you know Jesus Christ and he looked at me and he says father I haven't a clue he knew a lot about Jesus he could tell me what the hypostatic Union is Jesus Christ wonder-percent God and when two percent man at the same time he could tell me the definition of a trinity he could tell me a sacrament outward signing - by Christ - gives God gives grace but he couldn't tell me if he knew Jesus Christ so that's a question I ask you gentlemen do you know Jesus Christ do you know him as your best friend do you know him and just because you're a priest does not mean you know Jesus Christ sorry fathers but I've been doing this a long time just because you're a nun doesn't mean you know Jesus Christ you know I was doing a retreat once and it's up in that Larchmont New York you know as the priest I was the oldest priests there making this retreat for priests forget it but anyway the priest who has given us looked at us and says he told us one of the stories and he says you know I went through all seminary and I'm a lifer out what we call a lifer I was I started in the high school seminary at the Society to divine word your Bishop is an SPD that's the way I started but I guess I'm a defector but anyway so okay but so see he's a bishop now anyway so there he have the ticket sorry but the reality is you can go through all the seminary in this guy after he heard his first bunch of confession so never forget he came into the coming out of the confession owning out there and a nun who he just went to confession to him went and sat Nick next to him mountain next to him and says father do you love Jesus Christ with all your heart and he was kind of shocked because he was her day you know just err date what do you mean and then it hit him that he went through all seminarian he was alive for two all high school seminary all college seminary and all major seminary and he was retained a priest and nobody ever once asked him if he loved Jesus Christ that amazing that we can go through our whole life doing all the right things but never being in love with the person of Jesus and see what has to happen with us to follow Jesus Christ if you're gonna be a true man you're gonna have to die huh my favorite verse in the Bible those of you who have your Bibles go to Galatians 2:19 Galatians 2:19 those of you who don't hurry up and go buy one not right now but didn't get one after and I encourage you that's what I want you to do when it comes to the Word of God you all have nightstands in your beds right next to your beds so I want you to buy a good Catholic Bible and I want you to place it next to your nightstand and then every morning I was saying no Bible no breakfast no Bible no bed what's that no Bible no breakfast no Bible no bed that means you don't eat breakfast in the morning till you read from the Word of God and you don't go to bed at night till you read from the Word of God I wants one of my kids up to me and says father I don't eat breakfast whew no Bible no lunch no Bible no bed I don't care what it is but you don't do anything you know some guys go around and you get depressed do you depressed sometimes why are you depressed I'm gonna tell you why you're depressed because you listen to the bad news every morning you sit there you turn on the radio you read the paper it's always bad news you know everywhere I go some people say father you remind me of Glenn Beck shout out Glenn Beck he's a Mormon for goodness sakes but you ever sit there and listen Glenn Beck you know he's a good guy i watch Fox News but it's always bad you know it's always bad gentlemen we are not called to curse the darkness we're called the light of light and show that we the light of Christ no matter you ever see how if you're in a very dark room it's totally black if you light a match you light a candle no matter how intense the darkness is it can never overcome the light gentlemen we're called to be light in the world of darkness we're not called just to listen to the bad news every day and he'll go everything stinks you're called to go and meet and encounter the light in the hope of Christ and then Jesus says after we've encountered the light of the world then he says to us what you are the light of the world so gentlemen are you one of those pagans that curse of darkness are you one of those people the light a light and show you can be different are you part of the problem or you're part of the solution the solution comes not from you let me give you a hint the solution comes from Jesus Christ who lives inside of you right and again that's what you got to know Catholics are very big pagans a lot of times they'll come in here and here's Jesus and a Blessed Sacrament and they'll genuflect and they're so holy when they come to church and oh they receive Communion so that's the holy way then they go outside and they kill people in the parking lot and they beat their horns and a few miserable and they want to kill each other you know like again I used to tell my boys I'd say gentlemen you would never like Micah feet or our Cathedral is what was our Chapel for our high school it's Cathedral Prep and so I tell the boys I'd say gentlemen you'd never bring your girlfriend into the cathedral right and have sex with her in front of the tabernacle would you noticing that's disgusting father how could you ever say that even though a couple of them would always have maybe a twinkle in their eye like hmm anyway they were pagan children all boys let me give you an anyway but I say you know and even to bring that up it's kind of disgusting to you isn't it it's a sacrilege father how dare you excuse me men of God I say then you better not do it anywhere else why because where is Jesus Christ were a baptized Christian not everywhere you pagans he's inside of you you are the Temple of the Living God that's why again st. Paul says if you have sex with a prostitute I love st. Paul he's very explicit he said if you have sex with a prostitute who are you making have sex with a prostitute Jesus Christ gentlemen don't you get it no matter what you do you make Jesus Christ do because Jesus lives inside of you you know what do you think you think when you go to communion today Jesus is gonna stay there for like okay 10 minutes I'm out of here goodbye or do you think like oh when you go to the bathroom Jesus has gone - come on Jesus Christ lives inside of you you are a tabernacle or the temple of God and when we start living that way gentlemen then we will become saints of the Living God when we stop playing this game about oh I try to be a you know what do you think a Christian is here we think they're just being good people have you ever met an atheist it's a good person it's a moral person but you have have you ever met a Muslim maybe not down here they have Muslims in Memphis okay have you ever met a Muslim it's a moral person Betsy you have I bet you've made agnostics that are immoral people being a moral person going through the motions of being good does not make one a Christian a Christian by definition is one who no longer lives their life but lets Jesus Christ live inside of them right that's what galatians 2:19 says this is going to be on my gravestone when I die and I'll die at about 120 because the good die young but this is what it is it says I have been crucified with Christ so the life I live now is no longer my own Jesus Christ lives inside of me I still live my human life yes buts a life of faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave His life for me gentlemen are you trying to live the Christian life yourself are you getting out of the way so God can live his life through you that's the difference you and I got to get out of the way and give Christ total control of our hearts in our lives and to do that it's gonna kill you huh so I've invited you all here today to die aren't you excited don't you dare leave this place today unless you've totally given yourself to him because if not you've wasted your life here and gentlemen we got to do it every day this morning every day I'm I've been ordained 22 years next month I'm 51 years old but still first thing I do no matter where I am half the time I have no idea where I wake up in a more like where am I like this morning I was like where am I I'm in Memphis oh joy and so anyway and I come you have sundown here we never have Sun in Erie PA let me give you again anyway so first thing I do every morning no matter where I am is before my feet hit the floor my knees at the floor I fall on my knees and I say Jesus I love you I give you my life use me today for your glory so the first thing every day of my life is I make sure I surrender this day and my life to him to be Lord now again I've been all over the world this past year I was in Ireland I spoke to a thousand young people in Ireland and everybody I very few rarely ever met anyone who wants Jesus Christ not to be Savior of their life everybody wants cheese's to save them great but Jesus can't be your Savior unless easier what Lord we can charge your sex life you don't use artificial birth control he's in charge of your prayer life and pray with your family he hid their charge it takes only one little thin thread to keep a burden fly just one if there's one thing in your life the Christ is not Lord if he's not Lord of anything in your life so when you're called to be a man of Jesus Christ you're called to lay down your life you know I always consider myself a spiritual coach right well let's say you get a coach and you want to be able to football player basketball player whatever it is and you go to the coach said okay coach what should i do tell me what I should do to be a good football player and he looks at you and says you know I'd like you just the way you are just try to go to practice for 45 minutes to an hour a week and have good thoughts about the game it would sit there and say get the hell out of coach are you yet that's what we do to you don't we in the Catholic to the Christian Church whoa guys God loves you just the way you are you know try to be a good person I was in a place I was doing a Men's Conference in this this deacon was there he was a big basketball player professional bass complainers a deacon and it was a Men's Conference and he spoke before me luckily he left right after he spoke because I'm burning while he's talking he says guys you know you know I know it's hard guys I know it's hard it's hard to follow Jesus oh and while it's hard so guys and I know it's hard to pray everyday so coach could you could you try to pray everyday could you you know maybe while you're driving the car think about the bumps in the you know the steering wheel try to think of ten of them and try to say a decade of the Rosary every day oh please guys could you try I am burning inside so he was got everybody standing ovations he left I'm the next speaker I get up and I said I wasn't thinking great guy what a gentle man I said gentlemen let me give you a hint you pray everyday or you go to hell that's about as simple as it is and they all looked at me and says we like the Deacon better what the hell come on you know what do you want me to be up here and say oh come on guys I know it's hard just try try to be a good man that's bull crap gentlemen you have two choices you become a saint or you go to hell there is no in-between gentlemen I once I was spoken let spoken Halifax Nova Scotia and there were six bishops behind me huh and the poor guys I was the opening speaker for a youth conference we had 3000 kids all high school kids and I was the first speaker at the thing and that was during Mass and the poor bishops behind me and I get up and I said kids you have two choices become a saint or go to hell well all the kids went all the bishops they Jay showed me a picture later I looked at all the bishops faces they all look like they were constipated it was unbelievable we won't look at this bishop anyway but the reality was they're like don't say that to the car don't say now I pulled it out at the end I just wanted to get their attention but the reality is that that's God's will for you you do realize gentlemen the day you drop dead the god of the universe is gonna whose love will say to you I love you very much I will now give you what you love the most forever so let's say right now by you all drop dead dead and the god the universe is okay I love you I'll now give you what you love the most forever would that be him and could you prove it by the time you give him or would that be sports would that be money would that be pornography would that be the computer because what we love we give time to huh so do you love God if you were to die and he gave you what you love the most would it be him like when I do a men's conference and I stay around for confessions I won't be able to stay around for confessions day because I gotta fly back to the parish but the reality is the first question I what we call the questions and the first question is do you pray every day you know what the number one answer is for men on the mend conferences I try now you'll come here Wow you try do you try to eat breakfast every day do you try to eat dinner every day do you try to eat every day well no father well then why would you try to pray what's more important gentlemen praying or eating praying most of you don't buy that do you you don't absolutely not if you stop eating gentlemen what happens you die if you stop praying gentlemen what happens you die is it God's fault it's your fault you didn't give him time so at the end of years of your life he'll say okay listen I will never force myself on you I love you too much you didn't want me on earth so I know you don't want me forever I'll give you what you want and it wasn't me so gentlemen if anything in your life has to change today you're gonna have to decide that you're gonna commit yourself to daily prayer you're not gonna try try what the heck oh I'll try father that's garbage everybody here can give God five minutes a day everybody it takes some of you those of you who got older it takes some of you longer to go to the bathroom every day doesn't it you know it doesn't come out as easy anymore and you have to sit on that toilet for ten minutes now what are you gonna do when you stand before God in judgement dances how can you spend more time on the toilet than you did talking to me what are you gonna say you know those who try well I'll try but you watch all your football games you'll read all these stories you'll you'll golf for four hours that's Monsignor whatever it happens to be you'll do all these things he told me if Heaven doesn't have any golf courses he's not going but anyway is that true Monsignor he'd said exactly so anyway hell has golf courses but there's no holes there anyway the reality is I've been distracted anyway so we got to sit there and we got to look and make sure God's important in our life so you sit there and you decide to give God five minutes and listen prayer is always more listening than it is talking right it's like most of the way most men pray it's like getting married to this beautiful woman but never having sex with her and they're not even on your honeymoon and every day you sit there and you walk into your spouse's room and you go Shh because you have two different rooms you pull out your book of poems and you read her at one beautiful poem or one poem you have memorized sometimes you're you're too busy so you go and you they know you love her anyway and though you might be a really good husband so you pick up the phone a couple times during the day and you go thank you for everything you do for me I really love you thank you thank you can you hang up the phone then you come home from work and after you come home from work she's made you a beautiful dinner but you know yet that you could take it tired so you take a nap you watch TV or you read the paper for a while then right before you go into dinner there's your wife standing there and you look at her and you say thank you for this wonderful marvelous dinner you say the same words every night and then you eat but you never talk to your wife at all during that time after dinner you're a really good husband so you say thank you that was great same words every night you say it really fast because you're gonna go watch the game or go away to the paper or go watch TV or go do some work then right before you go to bed you walk into your spouse's room with your book of poems and you pull it out and you say one - oh I haven't tried this one before maybe I'll try this one usually it's one you memorize and you say it's so fast she could never hear it anyway because you said it so fast nobody knew what you just said and you do the same thing every day for 50 years what kind of relationship would that be gentlemen some of you are saying that'd be the greatest relationship in the world father could I have one of those relationships please could I could I could a good hey it would be a horrible relationship and yet that's most people's relationship with God they say their prayers they say they're our fathers or they'll say their act of contrition before they get before they go to bed just in case they die we call it fire insurance you know we do these things just so I don't go to hell when I die I don't like to go to Mass on Sunday either but I go because the bishops told me a long time ago if I miss any masses I'm going to hell so I really don't want to go to hell I'll go to church but I won't like it right now gentlemen if the only reason you follow Jesus Christ is so you don't go to hell who do you love yourself it's an act of selfishness you only do what you do for you you don't want to die and burn forever now the church is always taught that's in perfect contrition that's enough to me that's not enough but I'm not the church like God's gonna say oh no I know you really don't love me and you're only afraid to go into hell come on and come to heaven sure come on gentlemen it got to be you're a man of Prayer you know I love to talk about John Paul the second he would wake up in a militant night and he would walk into his father's room and he would find his father on his knees in prayer what would your kids do if they found you in the middle of the night and you weren't sleeping some of you looking at porn some of you doing things we won't talk about now would they some of you what walking on the internet because you have to get your work done are you a man of prayer to your children to your wife are you the spiritual leader of your home huh do you lay down your life for your kids you know Daniel brand much most do you know Danny he's a good friend of mine and Danny loves to say that gentlemen your kids will always love their mother but they're always gonna be at one to be just like you right like my dad was a smoker and so in my life he smoked my dad had a big saying do as I say not as I do you need to hit people that say that if that's you you're stupid it's time to change because your kids are always going to do what you do they want to be just like you my dad smoked so I want to smoke so I was a holy kid in some ways when I was a kid so I had an altar there I had a crucifix I prayed we did in front of every day and I had a statue of Saint Joseph he was hollow I kept all my cigarettes hid inside of course st. Joseph I'm the pastor now st. Joseph's Church he got back to me anyway but the reality was why cuz I wanted to be my dad your kids want to be like you gentlemen what kind of example are you are you a person that lays down your life everyday for your children huh you know what you got to do is to be a man of Prayer they got to be able to catch you praying they got to be able to know you have a Bible and you use it you know there's no greater thing could you imagine if your kids sit there near you are reading the Bible they'll think dad went freaky gentlemen we're all freaks for something would it be Jesus if I walked in your house can I tell you're a freak for Jesus or you a freak for Dallas Cowboys are you a freak for the Steelers which everybody should be a freak for are you a freak for what are you what are you a freak for you know and you have all these things in your house can you show that when you walk in your house you're a freak for Jesus Christ huh and to do this to be this man of faith means you're gonna have to be a committed daily prayer prayer you know where I got my book be a man a woman asked me to write the book for male spirituality and I says only if I can call what I want to call it she said what's that I said be a man and she goes what father at that that's a little you know strong a woman called me and she where I was in a radio interview and says father when you when you put the second printing on it's already been reprinted six times when you put it out could you change the title because you know it's kind of emasculating for men to give him a book called be a man I said if that's gonna emasculate the guy he really needs to read the book huh but when it comes from it's the classic words of King David the last words of King David to his son Solomon right before he died if Franz comes from one ok I'm 1 Kings chapter 2 verse 2 he says I'm about the way to go to all mankind I'm gonna die take courage and be a man huh and I love it from st. David because Saint David was a miserable human being was he not he was a murderer he was a rapist he was an adulterer he was a man who had great great great sins and yet st. Paul says about him and the Old Testament says of him what you see my friend my son David he is man after my own heart who wants to do my will gentleman when God calls us to be his beloved sons he doesn't call us to be perfect he calls us to be faithful then when we fall to get back up huh and the only way that's gonna happen is I you know when asked about the book about what's the most important chapter the book they always think it's chapter 3 where I talked about confession it's chapter 2 in chapter 2 we says it says become a man who knows that he is beloved to the father who is a beloved son Jesus Christ did not do any ministry in his life until he heard the father say at his baptism you are my beloved son with whom I am well-pleased gentleman in your prayer have you ever heard that yet most men are trying to earn you know if you read the book years ago by John Eldridge everybody know John Eldridge ever had wild at heart it's a great book he's a Protestant man great book though but one of the things he has in there is he says all men have within them a father wound you know that their father wasn't perfect and they're always trying to make up for their father and are always trying to be better for their father and I agreed with that but for me like every time I go to these things I hear people come to me and say father I come from a dysfunctional family I'll get over it we all come from dysfunctional families gentlemen you know trust me your kids who are here with one day one day I'll come back as an old Monsignor and I'll be doing a Men's Conference and your kid will come up to me and say father I come from a dysfunctional family yeah I met your dad once I understand I get it we're all dysfunctional everyone you ever read the lineage of Jesus Christ it is dysfunctional you know now Mary and Joseph know but you read when you start off the history it's all dysfunctional and I think God purposely put that in there to remind us it doesn't matter where you've been stop using your damn excuses you're in your sway because your dad was an alcoholic or you didn't love you enough get over it it's time to man up forget about the past and start looking to the future let me give you a hint gentlemen the devil will keep you always focused on yourself and your past Jesus always calls you to look to him and to the future Christianity gentlemen is the forgetfulness of self never the focus on self huh the best example that's good st. Peter good st. Peter and he says let me let me walk on the water with you and the let me bid across the water and Jesus says come on Peter and Peter's walking on the water he's doing really good as long as he looked at Jesus st. long is look to the future as soon as he start looking at himself I'm Peter I'm a farmer a fool I can't do this weather storm around him there's a storm around me he started to sink what did he have to do to get brought back up Jesus help me he forgot about himself he forgot about the storm he looked at Jesus need look to the goal if you and I are gonna see successful men in our lives we got to forget about ourselves forget about our past look to Jesus and look to the future is there anything you can do about your past gentlemen nothing except repent of it would you have a chance today to go to confession hopefully every single one of you go to confession huh and you'd make don't take don't make excuses for your sins well you know I did this because nobody cares you take responsibility for your sin don't say you did it because because then you're really not the one that did it God can't forgive you unless you take responsibility so you don't sit there and blame anybody else you take responsibility for your sins and then you give them to God and you say I am sorry please forgive me and then he looks at you and says you are my beloved son you know every time you go to prayer God your father and he looks at you and he says come here he calls you by name and he says you are my beloved son with whom I am well-pleased huh men don't deal well with this huh I have a spirits director my spirits director is the Exorcist of the Diocese of Erie now do you know I use my spirits director but anyway in dealing with him he always said I've been going to confession he's my my director for over 26 years and every time I go to confession at the end of my confessions he always looks at me and says Larry isn't it great God loves a jerk like you they go yeah that's right everybody knows that I know but please he's getting older he's 87 years old and I went to him at last Monday a week ago for confession and at the end he always grabs my hands in the at the end of confession he looks at me and he says Larry look at me and I'm not real into intimacy in that like I don't like to hold hands and all that kind of stuff I'm not into that stuff some people like that fine not me anyway so look at me Larry so I kind of looked up yes Pete he said I want you to really look at me don't turn aside yes he says Larry I have never stopped loving you and if I love you how much more does God love you it's okay Pete that's just about enough a lot but that's the reality made me extremely uncomfortable but that's what God does every day when he's with you if you sit long enough with God if you will be silent long enough he'll always say you're my beloved son gentlemen you didn't have to be a Christian only 32% of the world is Christian we're a minority God wanted you and the day you got baptized he adopted you and he says your name and says your beloved and if you've never heard that yet gentlemen you got to sit there with him until you hear him tell you that your beloved so I wanted to share with this whole thing to get the talk about my whole talk it's gonna be focused on these two things and I already talked about the first I will go in the second but it comes from Saint John Vianney anybody knows st. John Vianney patron of parish he says this is the glorious duty of man that you pray and that you love when you got to do for the rest of your life you got to pray and you got to love what is that you got to pray and you got to love now we are talking about prayer you got to have this committed prayer time huh but you got to be a man of love now that's to me what open core what a man is a man is one who lays down his life for others you know to be exact the best example of men to me of course are boys enter boys enter into the Marines or any of the services right they go there and they're willing to lay down their life for a great cause their country Muslim boys are willing to lay down their life for their religion again because we haven't challenged you enough throughout the years men in the Catholic Church aren't even willing to give up an hour on Sunday after time for their religion you know but gentlemen I believe in the next 10 years is going to be a Great Tribulation in America that's why the Lord has been raising up all these men's conferences and we're gonna have to be ready you know Muslims are willing to kill for their faith we need to be willing to die for our faith and you're gonna be asked to some of you to die are you gonna be man enough to do that huh even when it comes something as simple as you know the Eucharist we believe that Christ is in this tabernacle and every time you go to communion you go to communion and the priest will sit there and say the body of Christ and what do you respond amen amen is much more than I do believe amen is the Amen steak that if you're putting up attending a men's steak so what it means is every time you go to communion and you say that by the priest or minister says the body of Christ you say Amen you're saying I would stake my life on what you just said that means you would die for the Eucharist would you let's say right now people come in here and we have these radical I Qaeda al Qaeda comes in here and they've got all the doors they're all standing here machine guns and they say those of you who believe that in that tabernacle is God you stay and you die those who don't believe it you can leave I wonder how many of you had run out that door and how many of you would stay every time you go to Mass you say you would die professing Christ in the Eucharist and we have to start living this gentleman we're gonna start dying to ourselves dying to our passions dying to our lusts dying to our desires we've got to start dying to these things that are killing us and start saying yes to laying down my life for others that's what love is Jesus says there's no greater love than this than to what lay down your life for your friends and then that's what we need to do so again who's the first one you think you have to learn to die for next to God your wife huh every time I do marriages I don't know why people ask me I do 25 to 30 marriages a year and so because I taught all the boys they're all growing up they're all at me to marry them so I don't know why but we put them in a sanctuary the girl sits here the guy sits here and I do this every single wedding every wedding why they asked me back I don't know so I always start with the girl and I say sweetheart you read the Bible everyday don't you and I always get yes Father and I say you lied to a priest you go to hell no father and so I say have you ever read the book of Ephesians you ever read the book of Ephesians and should go no father well you know what it says in the book of Ephesians it says woman women wives be submissive to your husband's sweetheart do you think that's what it means and I always get no and then I always get every wedding I've ever done I always go yes that's what it means I jump up and dive every day for the rest of your life you're called to serve your husband to sit there and put his needs in front of yours now all the women in the congregation start to scream green throw up head starts spinning around the women start thinking die father die another reason I hate the Catholic Church oh how dare somebody say that in this day and age I really enjoy this you know I love it and so and I and the guys are always like your father tell them don't go any farther get up get up and I always look at the guy and like once I looked over at the guy and I said son because he was smiling from ear to ear and I said son that'll cost you another hundred bucks he looked at me and says best hundred bucks I ever spent father now anyone that knows me because some of you look constipated out there like I don't think that's right fun I can't believe you Oh get over yourself would you just get over your judgmental-ness anyone that knows me knows that I am an equal opportunity offender the other shoe is about to fall so when the guy is all happy there I say son you read the Bible every day don't you look no farther well you know what it says after it says wise be submissive to your husbands no father well I'm gonna tell you it says husband's love your wives how as Christ loved the church and gave his life for her you know what that means son no father your life is over every day when you wake up you got to sit there and think how can I die for my wife how can I put her needs in front of mine and a good way to do that gentleman to prove it it's real this day when you go home and all you want to do is sit down in their easy chair have a beer and watch TV because you're a side of this loudmouth priest you had to listen to this morning and you sit there and all of a sudden your wife comes walking into the room and you're there at your bier and going like this if you want to prove you've died for your wife you take that remote control and you hand it to her and say here honey we'll watch anything you want that shows you have died for your wife but everyday you got to do it gentlemen what I'd encourage you to do is when you go home today you put on your mirror three words you'll have a mirror in your bathroom good if with three words to remind you every day I have it on my mirror to remind me everything because I didn't reminded more than most of you the three words are I am third I am third to remind me God is first others are second I got to be last another way of saying that is a life of joy Jay Jesus first Oh others second why your self last and then every day before you go to bed gentlemen do an examination of conscience and think that I do at least one unselfish act today just one and if the answer is no you didn't do one unselfish act today you wasted your life in Christ because you only lived for yourself what we're called to do every day as men is to lay down our lives huh and again we do that by becoming those men of Prayer like again I often ask people I say gentlemen how many of you would sit there and if you knew someone's gonna jump in your house tonight rape your wife and kill your children how many of you would be willing to take a bullet to stop that Wow such men yeah but gentlemen the world the flesh and the devil is after your wife and kids every single day and because you're not a man of Prayer you leave your children unprotected forever if you're a man of prayer you sit there you look at the world in flesh and the devil every day say you got to go through me before you get to my children and my wife and because you're not a man of God but the problem with Adam when Adam and Eve was being tempted where was Adam standing next to Eve he was right there but he wasn't a man he kept his mouth shut when he should have protected his wife he needed to be her strength he was not many of you had let your wives lead to spiritual life for your family throughout your lives and that is a great disservice to your wife and to your family God created you to be the spiritual leader the spiritual example of a man of God it's your responsibility you are the priests of your family and you got to act like it huh so you got to be this person that lays down your life every day for love of your family now then you got to tell the people you got to love these people and then you got to tell the people you love that you love them you know now again some guys don't deal with this well at all some of you are gonna hate my guts if you don't already the reality is that you're gonna have to sit there and learn to lay down your wife for your family and wife every day and then to tell your family that you love them every day you know this became real to me years ago one of my kids became a professional football player well a couple of my kids but this was one he used to he was a kicker this is 25 years ago but anyway we were getting ready and I was we were going on to see a movie or get some wings or something and he was a big kid he was a senior in high school at the time and he was a big talker and I'm typing in a typewriter member typewriters and as I'm typing there he was talking and all of a sudden he sat there and he got quiet and I turned around like a watch and he looked and he started to sob I mean uncontrollably sob I didn't can't take it I can't take tears especially for men anything I want okay just stop crying just stop crying I can't take it so I said what's the matter what's the matter and he looked at me and he says father I'd do anything if my dad just told me once that he loved me the only thing this kid ever wanted was for his dad to tell me he loved him now his dad went to all his games his dad was proud of him he did all these things but he never told me loved him well about ten years ago I get a call from this kid at least his father my dad's dying you think he'd come over here and anoint him and I so of course I ran over i anointed his father the next day his father died and it wasn't because I anointed him it was his time and so as he died after the funeral I went to this kid he was 30 years old the guys there of 42 now he was he served my first mass but anyway so this 32 year old a guy i sat there he says so-and-so did your dad ever tell you that he loved you and this big guy again started to shake and started to sob and said never father the only thing this kid ever wanted from his dad was for his dad to tell me loved huh I grew up in the city of Pittsburgh I'm a true Pittsburgher huh you can always tell New Yorkers and Pittsburghers we're kind of like the same type people we're all say things as they are as you heard before me but the reality is that we are we say it as we are as we are both of my parents were cops my mother graduated highest-ever from the pittsburgh police academy i always said she missed your vocation she should have been god she knows everything just ask her but anyway so my mother was a cop and my father was a cop my father was a k-9 man so I got to know a lot of police officers as I was growing up now to be a police officer is not an easy thing right some of you are police officers it's not easy and every time you get a call it's for something bad it's never for anything good it's always bad so some people who deal with it drink a lot and become alcoholics high rate of alcoholism so I knew one cop it became a very very bad alcoholic right after a couple of many years on the force he let the Pittsburgh police force he left his wife left his kids and he went out to Las Vegas because we all know everybody's happy in Las Vegas did you know that they are all happy there came head of security of Circus Circus spent a couple years there got a new wife new kids and a big blue Cadillac and this 28 years ago and 28 years ago you had a Cadillac means you arrived now you need your Lexus or whatever but you had that right and so buddy kept drinking and drinking because he was still empty inside so after a couple years of Las Vegas he moved to Houston Texas because we all know everybody's happy in Houston Texas did you know that but he kept drinking and drinking and drinking and this man at 45 years old which is quite young isn't it a baby he was dying of cirrhosis deliveries almost couple days away from his 46th birthday and so his wife at the time called me I was a senior in the college seminary at the time and I knew them and so he called me the phone and says Larry I know you're busy but I couldn't he's dying do you think maybe you come out here and just be with him for a little bit I said of course it's what I do with my seminary and yes and I flew out to Houston Texas when I walked into the ICU room in Houston I was not prepared for what I saw here was this man 45 years old a couple days before his 46th birthday he's laying there in the icy room and he was pure white hair he had no Fannin's body was a human skeleton he looked like he was 98 years old dying of AIDS horrible looking and he was on a respirator so he couldn't talk to me so I in the eye serum the only two there and I said you look like hell huh I have a negative humor if you ain't been able to figure this out yeah at times so I said you look like hell and he shook his head up and down but he couldn't talk to me he had her write to me in a little blackboard right and so I'm spending time with him as much as I could praying with him being with him as much I could and I was a senior in college and this was in September and I knew I had to get back to school so I never forget as he was laying there I said listen I got to be going you know I got to get back to school but I'm gonna be graduating you know in May boy it'd be great if you could be there but we both know this was not going to happen this man was going to die huh and so I was I start walking here who said I'll pray for you doesn't that sound holy always son so holy sometimes and I start walking out of the room well I knew it'd be the last time I ever saw this man so I went to get one last look at him so as I turn around to get one last look at him here he is desperately calling me back with his hands but he couldn't say anything to me so I think I'm something's terribly wrong so I ran around the other side it better go what's the matter what's the matter what can I do for you and this man took me and he grabbed me and he hugged me so close to himself as he's hugging me so close and this is 28 years ago but it feels like it's two seconds ago as he's hugging me so tight to himself I looked up at him and I said yeah I love you too dad and a little later my father died the only time I ever told my dad that I loved him was on his deathbed why because he wasn't the type of dad I wanted he was an alcoholic and he was a mean alcoholic and I spent my whole life judging my father instead of loving my father huh Jesus Christ the King of Kings the Lord of lords one we all say we follow here oh let's say we follow him in John chapter 13 verse 35 says this is my commandment love one another as I have loved you the only commandment Jesus Christ ever gave us is to love and then right after in verse 35 he says this is how all people know you're my disciples because you love one another not because you pray four hours a day not because you're really holy when you go to communion not because you obeyed all the commandments jesus said all people know your mind because you love each other period so Jesus Christ only gave us one commandment and then he forbid us he forbid us to judge and boy we Catholics are great judges but we're not so great lovers especially me how about you are you a great lover do you tell the people you love that you love them now once you know I even tell this to my congregation and people come to me sometimes so where does it say in the Bible father I've got to tell people I love that I love them will you ask the wrong priests son you go to John's Gospel chapter 15 verse 9 and it says as the father has loved me so I love you and then in verse 16 and 17 he says love one another as I have loved you so gentlemen it's a command from Jesus Christ to tell the people you love that you love them that's my father Larry that's Jesus Christ do you say your follower now some of you to do this is gonna kill you good it's about time you start dying for your family that's what they want that's what they need that's why God gave you them for you to die now some of you might look at me and say Oh father you know I'm a German Germans don't do that well or you don't sit there and say father I'm an Italian we do it all the time I love you my love you I love you I love you or father I'm Irish I do it when I'm drunk it does he don't delet you don't let your culture determine your faith your faith must influence your culture so you got to do that so gentlemen I got homework for you before I leave you because I still have five minutes I got homework for you this is your homework if you have 10 kids it's gonna be a long night I want you to write to every one of your children and I want you to tell them you love them and why don't this isn't your time to judge them you know you disappoint me or you know I wish better stop it your judgment will do anything except send people farther away from the church your judgment will never bring anyone in the church you know and some of your father's might not have talked to your sons and that for a while shame on you you've got to give your life for your sons and daughters you don't sit there and throw them out because they weren't living up to your rules god forbid they did you're not the God of their universe God is your job you're commanded by Jesus Christ to love them and you're forbidden by Jesus Christ to judge them so in these letters I want you to write them and tell them that you love them you cannot do it on the computer and make one copy for each of the kids and change your names you must do it for every single hand write a letter to your children they'll hold on to that letter for all the days of their life some of you have to write it to your wives goods been a longtime member when you first fell in love with your wife you'd be on the phone like I love you no I love you more you hang up I can't hang up you hang up I love you more and you went on and on nowadays just shut up and you hang out it's time to go back you got to write these letters and for homework for us - your life is what what do you think you got to tell the people you love them how often every day I have a good friend in the priesthood who was an SVD with me younger SVD and he sat there and he had a father as an alcoholic - a lot of us have fathers are alcoholics it's just the reality and he got into a fight once with his dad and he's a priest he Saturday look at this down he says I hate you and he slammed the door and walked into his room his father got in the car and drove away and was killed in an auto accident the last thing this priest ever said to his father was I hate you gentlemen you never know when it'll be the last thing you see anybody in your life so every time you believe them you tell them you love you you love them now again some of you that's gonna be very hard just do it after you get over the first time it'll be easy but you're gonna have to do it you're gonna to do it and you do this and you tell them you love them and you start living this life of love huh gentlemen some of you about 50% of you will not do this I know it because you're a wimp gentlemen if you can't sit there and tell your wife and your kids that you love them you better look between your legs because there's nothing there gentlemen it takes a true man to be a man of love now I don't know if you understood the imagery but you might have to explain it to the person next to you but anyway you're gonna have to sit there and decide to do it and again let me give you a hint if you do this you know again in all the books like signed out there I just put one word all right I said be a saint exclamation point god bless you father Larry because this is what God wants you to be he wants you to be a saint and that means you're a person of Prayer and you're a person of love you're a man that lives for others you're a man who prays every day and as you do that if you do these things I promise you you'll never regret it you're not gonna be laying in bed one day when you're dying I've been a lot of death beds a lot of people you're not gonna be sansa I'm so stupid I prayed every day what was the matter with me I was so stupid I can't believe I told my wife and my kids that I love them every day stupid stupid stupid but let me give you a hint gentlemen if you don't if you ignore me today and you do what the hell you want to do because I'm a man I'll do the way I want to do great the theme song for everyone and how is what I did it my way you like that song you're gonna love hell they sing it there 24 hours a day seven days a week you sit there and you're gonna decide to do it your way you're not gonna tell it you're gonna be a man of love you're not gonna be a person of Prayer a person of love and tell people you love that you love them then I promise you I promise you while you're laying on your deathbed and you're trying to breathe and you're taking your last president I promise you you'll regret your life you'll regret that you didn't tell the people you love that you love them you regret you weren't a man of Prayer and then as you're dying I want you to hear me saying your boy in your ear I told you so and you all hate me as you die but the reality is gentlemen life is too short be a man of Prayer be a man of love tell the people you love that you love them and you'll change the world got it get it gonna do it you better or you're going to hell the Lord be with you may Almighty God bless keep and protect you he whose father and Son and Holy Spirit amen god bless you gentlemen thank you very much you

Channel: CatholicMusic

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Rating: 4.8090453 out of 5

Keywords: fr, father, larry, richards, mens, morning, spirituality, mmos, catholic, diocese, memphis, be, man

Id: 1YoEXbpmKfI

Length: 60min 26sec (3626 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 09 2011