Fr. Michael Scanlan, TOR: Homily: Give Your Life to the Lord

eleven verse three says to us when the foundations are being destroyed what should the righteous do when the foundations are being destroyed corroded away and the righteous are there meaning those committed to God those justified by God those wanting to follow God's ways those wanting to be godly man what should they do they watch foundations corroding and washing away brothers were in that situation regarding family life we're in that situation regarding sexual morality we're in that situation regarding marriage fidelity and husband and wife relationships we are seeing devastation we are seeing corrosion we are seeing a washing away of a foundation that in a way that has never been experienced in this country before and I would dare say has never been experienced in Christianity before a washing away of the basic understanding of family life a basic understanding of fidelity and sexual morality a basic understanding of responsibility a basic understanding of raising children a basic understanding of what fathers should do and husbands should do as well as why what do the righteous do that is why we have this conflict that's why you're here so that you can hear God's Word so that you can take into yourself the wisdom of what to do what to do now it can look overwhelming matter of fact a lot of ways it is overwhelming who's going to reverse this process who is going to increase family life how are we going to have more parents with children how are we going to have more marriage fidelity how are we going to have better preparation for marriage how are we going to well you can go on and on with everything you've heard this weekend and you won't find the answer in yourself right and you won't find it in the dear Ruth column right I just heard Ruth is coming to Steubenville dr. Ruth well anyhow your answer has to be in the Word of God the word that proclaimed to us this day and has witnessed to you by so many of the speakers and those people giving personal testimony throughout this weekend the answers in God and the great line the great uh-hum could say the greatest line in scripture the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all we have salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ you say somebody stops you say brother you saved you say you bet I am and with God's mercy I'll stay saved to the end you got a good answer for that as Catholics the love of God he loves you he gave you Jesus He gave His only Son so that you'd be saved and live with him in 12 of them forever that's the gospel you've got the love of God so what do you do with this he the third thing fellowship of the holy spirit fellowship that's that Greek word Koinonia again fellowship of the holy spirit that means a bond that means eighth first having a relationship with the Holy Spirit that's pretty good you hear a lot today about who's in relationship with whom who has a relationship have you primary relationship the Holy Spirit in that great you it so you found a new lady well I found God he's I'm in fellowship with God I got a relationship with him that's what's so important that's the basis of any answer fellowship in the Holy Spirit first yourself than others that's the basis of all you've been hearing on this small group and they're sharing and meeting together in the rest it's Koinonia which is bonded 'no switch is commitment which is fraternity which is Brotherhood which is buddy hood but it's done in the power and the relationship of the Holy Spirit and from that relationship to the Holy Spirit God's eternal unlimited power is released you can do it everybody else in the office can be having adulterous affairs everybody around you in the neighborhood can be showing pornographic movies you've got fellowship of the holy spirit you don't have to do it you you will never be alone you won't be the oddball because you're going to be the involved you're going to be in the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit this is so key to any solution in our lives to fidelity to faithfulness you know one of my face passages in crossing the threshold of hope the book in which the Pope wrote all the answers to questions given to him by a Roman journalist was when the journalist says how does the Pope pray and wait to read along in that book you say yeah how does the Pope pray you know and his answers marveling he says the Pope prays as the Spirit permits him to pray he understands this basic fellowship of the holy spirit he understands that relationship that he draws all his inspiration he draws the power to pray he draws the revelation he draws the adoration all that goes on from the Holy Spirit then he made a very pertinent cont comment in a recent Pentecost audience where he said we should pray to the Holy Spirit more than we pray to anybody else there is a test because we need a more we need a verb a decision of our life we need him for strength to be faithful we have to constantly call on the power of the Holy Spirit throughout our day and night that it wouldn't be our quick and most repetitious prayer is calling on the Holy Spirit I mean you know through the day you know when you're tempted you know when you're gonna get lazy you know when something looks overwhelming then all you know when you're getting fearful you know that when you're losing your peace you know when you're starting to get angry you know when you're giving up in relationship and starting to just antagonize and grate somebody off you say Holy Spirit come Holy Spirit I need light I need strength I need power this has to be the foundation for the solution of the righteous when the foundations of marriage family are corroding I want to go further than that I want to tell you the way the Holy Fathers commissioning you you see I told you in the first homily that the thing that he most says it's been not afraid and the reason that is so strong to the youth is he says he tells it is don't be afraid to stand up against pornography don't be afraid just to stand out when everybody else is being immoral don't be afraid to stand for honesty when others are deceitful don't be afraid to be the odd one who's really the in one don't be afraid but it's second most repeated phrase in all of his documents is New Evangelization and that's you what he has in mind is you and what you've heard this weekend I have a scene and what you're called to do the New Evangelization up by New Evangelization he means something very clear he says we're not restoring the way things just used to be you know we're not going to call it the passion is priests to do a week in the parish and just have held fire and brimstone straightening everybody out why not enough will come to hear them they do well and there may be time for that again but that's not what he's talking about he says secondly we're not talking about proselytism we're not talking about you're going looking for people who aren't Catholic and have no relationship to the Catholic faith yes there's a place for that but that's not really what we're talking about we're talking about Catholics to Catholics he said third we're not talking about toleration oh you go your way I go mine every man has his own thing what your truth is is is up to you what my truth is to up to me we just have to respect one another no he says we're talking about evangelization and that means going person to person in visually within the Catholic Church and calling them back to her or calling him for the first time to a commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ to full life in the church and he says you've got to do that walking side-by-side he says first you have to have the relationship with Jesus yourself you have to be walking with the Lord as your friend your brother your master in your Lord all of them got to learn that Jesus wants to walk and accompany you step-by-step through life that he's committed to you in a real as a real friend as a real brother while being master and Lord and then you have to create that relationship with another person in the words of this weekend with another man and you walk side by side with him and you say I want to introduce you to somebody I know somebody who's changed my life somebody who's become the center of my life or is Bowie Kuhn said last night I'm madly in love with Jesus Christ let me tell you about who I'm really in love with let me tell you about a love that changes my life let me tell you about our love that's there in season out season up and down regardless when I'm when I'm in good moods or bad and you introduce you to the to Jesus and then introducing him to Jesus maybe in a whole new way cuz ciosed on it charismatic renewal Tanith Neocatechumenal done it you've been doing it this weekend again all these it's not a big thing you just talk about what you believe from the depths of your whole heart and then you introduce him to the fullness of life in the church you invite him to come to your share group you invite him to come to a prayer meeting you guide them to come to a discussion you get them into the Bible you get them into prayer this is the New Evangelization that john paul ii is after he's not primarily to the hierarchy though he's saying you got your job and getting it going he's talking primarily to you he's commissioning you to be evangelized he's in oh wait a minute I don't know if I could do that I don't have much say I Fiala gee I really got a bad track record and everybody knows it I'm not all that holy I haven't been showing up man hey guys those are just the guys like you that you can bring in believe me when I sit down on a plane and start evangelizing some guy and he sees my collar and everything else I don't know if I'm ready for this one he backs off and suddenly has to go to sleep would bury himself in books but you approached the guy thing I've been there Matt back I was just there last month well last year I know we are I know it you struggling you can talk them you can bring the message you can do it it's one by one one person and then bring him into a group and then the group into the life of the church this is what God wants this is what the Pope's commissioning can you do it were you doing will you do it if you feel like you're the only one or you're one or two I gotta speak a little bit about my hero I told you in the first mass that I wanted to talk a little about him Maximilian Kolbe he's the saint he's the martyr of our age fifty-five years ago martyred in Oz which an extraordinary extraordinary man who did that very very unusual thing he gave his life that someone else ten days ago I was in ostrich and I was walking from cell block to cell and I saw the entrance area where they gathered them the men and women in those days I want to tell you read you hear this speech they give him this was the standard speech by commandant Haase he gave it to the prisoners as they arrived at Auschwitz let me tell you that you've not arrived at a health spa but a German concentration camp you will find only one exit the crematorium chimney if you don't like the sound of this you can leave it once by throwing yourself on the electric fences now if any of you are Jews you have the right to live no longer than two weeks prease one month the rest of you three months as that for welcome I tell you that death camp comes in on you from every direction you realize that it was the life of these men and women yes the Jews were the largest single group executed there and millions were executed they're still trying to figure out the exact number 300,000 starved before they could be executed Jews were the largest single group but they weren't the majority so a greater number of non-jews killed and priests in particular in the intellectuals were among the first that were brought in there the life was worse than my imagination had had pictured it based on having read a couple of books such things as the men being put naked into Stone cellar rooms with not enough room to even sit down they all had to stand naked in the cold room day after day together there they had various forms of punishment Kolby on a number of occasions with beaten and whipped one occasion he was put over a tree stump and he was last 60 times over and over again they were systematically starved they didn't have clothing they didn't have the basic treatment they were kept for only weeks or at most months with the idea that as long as they were strong in labour their life would continue once they were weak once they were considered sick they were executed extraordinary to go through those gas chambers extraordinary to see all the hair big big vats of hair to see all the teeth gold from the teeth see the various articles the prayer shawls of the June the or metals the various things of of the believers was an extraordinary thing to walk through but what I want to tell you is Maximilian Kolbe and those who followed him conquered he told them over and over again he said you may not leave here but you will conquer here you will be the victor you will not lose and defeat with extraordinary you probably well let me read one section that goes with one of maybe fifty testimonies that I've read living day today as he did hand with God he seemed to have inside him a kind of spiritual magnet by which he attracted us to himself to God into our lady he kept insisting that God is good and merciful he would like to have converted the entire camp including the nazies he had many times before being put in this camp actually reached out to health and Medicaid Nazi troops who he read here was sick and had problems not only did he pray for them he exhorted us to pray for their conversion I remember how he gave his wooden shoes which was still in good condition to another prisoner taking the fellows worn clogs for himself once I was going to do heavy labor the morning before I left father Maximilian handled me what was about a quarter of his daily bread raishin I knew that he had been badly beaten and was exhausted so I was astonished and didn't want to take it father Maximilian literally held me and insisted you must take it you are going to do hard labor and you're hungry I took it reluctantly with sorrow for I knew he would get nothing more until evening if I was able to hold out and emerge alive I kept my faith and didn't fall into despair I owe it all to father Maximilian when I was close to despair and ready to throw myself on the wires he was the one who gave me new courage and told me I would be victorious and get out alive he was able to prophesy to all sorts of men there who would escape the death you know of course he himself knew he wasn't going to leave he said to his cellmates that he would not be leaving the camp alive because he had a mission to do for God for the Immaculata it's great devotion to our lady he found in Our Lady the ready and broad highway access it Jesus to the Father but we all maybe know that that key day that key moment when in fact a man escaped from their block until they understand that attention all day long while they search for this one man who had escaped and the hot Sun they stood there the next day they were put back at attention and finally the sentence was given that ten would die in the starvation bunker because the one had escaped and hadn't been found they went through the ranks picking one after another frightening many saying you know you get back the rest and finally they picked the ten who would not receive anything to drink or eat until they died in a cold stone cellar room finally when the selection was complete commandant frische was exhilarated up there told them to write down all the names and numbers so they'd have a record of who had died and at that point sergeant Francisco Janacek a member of the Polish army screamed out my wife and my children suddenly there was movement in the ranks the prisoners several rows back broke out and pushed his way towards the front the SS guards watching this block raised their automatic rifles while the dogs that they heels tense for the order to spring Frisch and others reached there ho towards their holster the prisoner steps past the front row it's Colby his step is firm his face peaceful angrily the black couple shouts at him to stop or be shot Colby answers calmly I want to talk to the commander and keeps on walking well the capo hardly enough neither shoots nor clubs him then still at a respectful distance Colby stops his cap in his hands standing at attention like an officer of some sort himself he looks at fresh and straight in the eye hair commandant I wish to make a request please he says the Vipers will they to say it's a miracle that no one shoots him instead Fritsch asks what do you want I want to die in place of this prisoner and colebee points towards the sobbing Kijana check he presents the audacious request without a stammer fish looks stupefied irritated everyone notes that how the Germans Lord of life and death suddenly nervous actually steps back up ace the prisoner explains I have no wife or children besides I'm old and not good for anything he's in better condition he adds adroitly playing on the Naza line who are you rich croaks a Catholic priests rich is silent then after a while says request granted and as if to expel fury he kicks for Janacek saying back to the ranks you dodging true Janacek said i could not only try to thank him with my eyes i was stunned and could hardly grasp what was going on good Jonna check survived Auschwitz he went back to Switzerland he became a councilman of his town there in Switzerland and when he finished his employment he started around the world to tell the story of the man who died for him he showed his concentration number on his arm he was just 40 minutes from here and one of his visits around the world he recently died in his mid 90s but I want to bring two points home to you one someone died for you the same way Maximilian Kolbe died for Francisco Janacek you've been given new life you've been saved you have the power of the Holy Spirit you have wisdom you of hope know that someone died for you so that that could be possible so that all your sins could be forgiven so that you could go out victorious and give witness to the world that Jesus Christ died for you in the same way that Maximilian Kolbe died for Francisco Johnny check second Maximilian Kolbe went through those approximately two weeks in that starvation bunker until he was the only one left living and on August 14th they came in and he was smiling as he had been day after day on many of the prior visits when they came in to drag out dead bodies and to remove remove the feces they had seen this group praying or the whole group around maximilien praying and having peace as Maximilian led them day by day with the serenity of God the peace the world cannot understand that peace the world cannot give the joy that doesn't leave he had it through that horrible day by day starvation they would drink the urine of course that was the one thing the only way they could get any any liquid and finally on August 14th there was only one man alive Colby with a smile on his face and they injected him with poison to kill him you can do it Colby started because he gave a piece of bread because he he gave somewhere now he took the hard labor and gave someone the sort he made the little decisions day by day you don't overnight become a Colby but you know that the men like Colby exist and can do it you can be faithful to your commitments faithful to your vows faithful to being father's and a husband leaders of your family faithful at work you can do it you can do it regardless how they're acting around you regardless whether everybody else is cheating you can be honest you can move ahead what can they really do to you there aren't too many starvation bunkers around Chesterton said of francis of assisi what could you do to him took away his food he fasted for the Lord he took away his betty did a vigil you beat him he offered it up for the salvation of mankind so you killed him and you made him a saint in the martyr and you lost the whole bottle coby's accomplished more in his death than he ever did in his life why not simply make a decision in prayer that if you're ever offered the opportunity of dying a martyr you'll take it Koby had to decide that in advance he didn't say but let me think about it in that last moment that was a decision in his life that preceded and if you decide that you'll give you a whole life for the Lord if the opportunity comes even in a bloody death hey the other stuffs gonna be easy along the way right taraji o God's counting on you the pope's commissioned you you've heard the words this weekend that give you wisdom direction and advice for your life let us stand and profess our faith you

Channel: Franciscan University of Steubenville

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Id: iQufj-QPG6Q

Length: 29min 47sec (1787 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 07 2017