Kimberly Hahn - The Joy of the Lord is My Strength - 2015 Steubenville ABS

right hmm this has been such a feast it's it's a little it's a little challenging I feel like a cook who is coming in at the end and everyone looks a little satiated like really is there something more but there might be there might be something more for you let me just have a quick prayer name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit amen Lord Jesus I thank you for this day I thank you for these brothers and sisters in Christ who have gathered here and heard the challenge that you have brought to us through st. Paul we thank you for the gift of st. Paul and the gift of Sacred Scripture that we can read in the mass and privately and we ask Lord that you would do your work in our hearts that we may imitate and marry in our guests to you in Jesus name I pray amen you know Ava granddaughter who I think will probably become a fount of quotable quotes and she's she's just a very direct little child and so when she was four and her little brother was two they had a conversation my daughter-in-law overheard my little grandson Gabriel said Jesus is the Good Shepherd and Eliza said and we are his dumb little sheep and he said he was a little consternated and he said but he loves us and she said it makes no sense you know at one level she's right we think of ourselves as so eminently lovable and yet and yet we also know ways we're not and yet God continues to love us he does Shepherd us Gabriel was right he does love us so we're gonna bring this book to a close turn to Philippians four and I have to tell you as John made references it was awesome to see at least half of your heads down looking at your Bibles I loved to hear the turning of pages and I have a lot of scripture I want to go through so it will help me if you if you get your Bibles open now and we're gonna go through a lot I'm doing the concluding verses but I will go back and forth throughout the book of Philippians and a few other passages so beginning in verse 10 I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me you were indeed concerned for me but you had no opportunity Paul was rejoicing over many aspects of the Philippians living faithful and faith filled lives and this is somewhat of a concluding statement but he's already made a lot of statements turn to chapter 1 John read this earlier verses 3 to 5 where he talks about how thankful he is for the partnership that they share together and that he always prays for them with joy verse 18 Paul has joy that they are spreading the gospel okay and then the next verse verse 19 he rejoices over their prayers for him so he knows they're sharing the gospel he knows they're praying for them and then verse 25 of chapter 1 Paul ministers to them for their progress and joy in the faith he believes what God has begun in them is going to bring it to completion and he's bringing that to the forefront then in chapter 2 verse 2 what will complete his joy if they are united I was thinking of that because Taylor Marshall mentioned his talk was about st. Paul as a father and I Wow I can really see here a dad in this you know you get your kids together and you're like if there is anything that you can agree on okay let's focus on that I don't know in your family but we have probably at least five Chiefs and maybe one Indian and everybody has an idea and now we have grandchildren that are very similar it's gonna be interesting to see how it all washes out then on in verse 28 and 29 Paul's co-worker up Aphrodite's is to be received with joy just as Paul has greeted them with joy and then he says imitate me what's so beautiful is Paul is not too busy to teach the Philippians and to communicate his love for them his joy in them and I have to tell you one of the singular blessings for Scott and me is finding out just three years ago that another Saint was not too busy to jot us a note out of the blue three years ago I got a call from a woman and she said I feel terrible there is a priest who used to minister to Mother Teresa of Calcutta and he would come in and he would drop his things and then he would head off again and he would go do retreats and she said I just found two notes one written to you one written to Scott from Mother Teresa of Calcutta and she said I am sick at heart that we didn't send these and I said could you overnight it please I said all is forgiven but I want to get them in my hand my note is longer but I think probably mother Teresa knew that I needed more help but this is what she wrote and it's so fitting for our time together dear Kimberly keep the joy of loving Jesus in your heart and share this joy with all you meet especially your family ask our lady to help you god bless you did not even know that she had taken a moment how could she have taken the time and I just want to mention to you take a moment if if God brings to your heart someone you should jot a little note to don't get stuck with thinking it has to be this great epistle it could be a little note my mother-in-law is very very ill she probably will not live to the end of August and Scott hasn't referred to it at all in this conference but it is it weighs very heavily on our hearts and the other day I found a birthday card that I had already bought for her but her birthday is in January so I wrote at the card I said it's your half birthday and I just told her what she meant to me and she received it she was still alive when she received it she was able to read it and it was and was a blessing to her so maybe God will put someone on your heart today don't delay write the note okay in Ephesians 410 Paul is rejoicing particularly for the concern of the Philippian people for him they have revived concern which means they already had expressed it and John referred to this or maybe someone last night referred to it in verses 15 and 16 yeah I thought someone last night 15 and 16 where when he went out on that first missionary journey he came to them first and then when he left they sent gifts when he was in Macedonia and then later he they sent gifts more than once when he was in Thessalonica for a time they didn't have the opportunity to help and we're not always in the same circumstances right sometimes we we have extra and we can donate something we can make it possible for someone to come on a retreat maybe some of you made it possible for someone to come with you to the conference and then there are times where the means aren't there to be able to care for someone or minister to someone but they were eager to help Paul they were looking for that opportunity to help provide the rent that John referred to and the food money for food Paul had already set a great example for the Filipina for the Philippian people in generosity I can look back at chapter 1 in verses 3 and 4 he says his prayers are so that they will grow in their partnership and ministry in verse 5 in verse 7 he speaks of the defense of the faith so that in verses 12 and 13 the gospel will spread he speaks of his imprisonment in verse 7 so that they will have courage to continue to proclaim the gospel in verse 14 he speaks of his love in verse 8 so that they will love more in verse 9 and he's writing so that they will grow in wisdom and in knowledge again in verse 9 so throughout the Epistle Paul keeps bringing to their minds not only yes you have been generous with me but a variety of ways in which he has been generous to them in the Lord and Paul's sacrificial acts combined with his teaching are to spur the Philippian people on to be more generous knowledge is that they have been concerned and just weren't able to help at that moment but now that they could act on that concern they blessed him and for that they will be blessed and it reminds us of a passage Jesus is quoted in Luke 6:38 give and it will be given to you good measure pressed down shaken together running over will be put into your lap for the measure that you give will be the measure that you get and there are times in our lives when different ways of expressing that generosity are possible I just thought I'd give you a couple of illustrations when we lived in Milwaukee Scott was in PhD work and we were on an extremely tight budget we lived in a bad neighborhood where there were people involved in drugs and prostitutes but it was what we could afford and he biked down to Marquette so I could use our one car and we've made many sacrifices and it wouldn't point am an engaged couple called and said we want to come over and so could we pick up some groceries for you and so I thought quickly okay what could I use and I gave her a little list and in they walked about 45 minutes later with bags of groceries I mean pretty much the only beef we had was steaks that came from someone who kept saying you know we were helping them clean out their freezer I mean I didn't buy a whole lot of meat and anyway they had like fruit snacks and big they had all these little treats and I'm thinking oh my gosh how am I gonna write a check for all of this you know and then they just said oh no no no you're not paying for these we're just giving him to you and I had to fight tears it was just such an overwhelming gift well fast forward about three years we had moved away and when this couple got married we came back for their wedding and even though they were not Catholic they really understood openness to life and they were eager to embrace it and so even though most their Protestant friends didn't understand and there was a lot of joking about it at the rehearsal dinner I just went up to him and I said I hope God does greatly bless you it's such a good thing that you're saying yes to him in this way so two years later they have a baby who's not even one year old and they just found out they're expecting again and I had a chance to visit now we didn't have a big budget we had a little more than we used to have and so I went to the grocery store I got them two roses symbolizing the two lives and then I got them two small steaks and when I walked into the apartment there's a lonely little hot dog sitting in a pot cold that I know was going to be Jim's dinner when he got home that night and and they were just a little little tiny apartment and when I handed her just just that much two roses and two steaks I said I want you to have a special celebration for this new life has given you she burst into tears and she said you have no idea what this means I'm like sweetheart do you not remember a few years back what you and Jim did for us you know when it is in our power to do good do it do it ask the Holy Spirit to give you those nudges to see the needs around you to minister to others I'll give you another practical example how many of you have a cell phone that has an alarm okay this is a very practical take away I have something that I've offered my daughter and my daughters-in-law because years ago I did this with my sister and that is when you hit a day which is so overwhelming that you can't imagine how you're going to get through that day call me and I will set the alarm and I will pray every hour of this waking day for you earlier this week Hannah texted just a horrible night's sleep neither child slept through the night you know needs were great lots of tears her tears I mean it's just so overwhelming and I said today and tomorrow every waking hour I will pray for you on the hour and I just my alarm would go off and I would okay Lord I'm gonna pray for her and then I reset the alarm one hour one hour all day long every waking hour what a simple thing and then little thoughts came to me and I would text her just prayed for you love you you know God is giving you this special gift of loving these two little ones in sacrificial ways I'm so proud of you etc use the opportunity okay verse 11 in chapter 4 not that I complain of want for I've learned in whatever state I am to be content I'm so grateful he said the word learned because it's a process I was contemplating this verse I'm like yes I want to be content Lord I want to be content I drove off of the campus and right away someone cut me off and I slammed on the brakes I'm like and I thought oh my gosh I can't even take the fact that someone pulled out in front of me how pathetic and I hear I'm thinking all I want to be content like Paul who's imprisoned in his house oh all this grand and glorious stuff you know it's like oh yes if I had a broken arm or leg but then if I only am suffering from poison ivy you know then that's so it's whatever state I am it will change our circumstances change but God does not how can Paul rejoice in all circumstances because God is present he is powerful when we are feel weak you know in in first Timothy six six to seven it says there's great gain in godliness with contentment for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world now Timothy is echoing someone that's familiar from the Old Testament who do you think that is someone who referred to not bringing anything into the world and not taking anything out job good after the loss of all of his children no one child all of his children all of his property all of his crops all of his animals and all of his servants except the ones who came in to tell him this horrific news it says job quote arose rent his robe shaved his head fell upon the ground and worshiped he worshiped what trust in a mighty God in the midst of unspeakable grief and then he says these words naked I came from my mother's woman naked I will return the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away blessed be the name of the Lord that's amazing now his lament his cry of grief is not a complaint it's not discontent this is such an amazing expression of faith and when Paul talks about having learned to be content the Greek word is actually the same word that the Stoics would use to talk about being content in the sense that they would so disconnect from having personal relationships with other people that they in a sense were steeled from any grief any emotion any compassion in a sense it was it was to be seen as a serene self-sufficiency but it's not what Paul means when he uses that word he does strive for a certain self-sufficiency and that's why we call him a tentmaker because he tried to earn his own keep so that it wouldn't over overly burden Christian people to try to provide the finances for him but his confidence was not in himself his confidence was in Christ and he learned to be content because of his trust in the Lord and he could receive help so when the Philippian people give him help he receives it with gratitude it's not like he has to say no no no I'm gonna do this all by myself now sometimes when we think about being content we think self-sufficiency we think I need to be able to do this all on my own and yet maybe the Lord has planted you within the body of Christ not only to serve others but to receive service when I was expecting Hannah she was placenta praevia which means that the placenta attaches to the cervix and at odd moments if there's an abruption I would bleed and then if it was a major abruption we would have had less than 10 minutes to get her out alive so it's a very serious condition and throughout the pregnancy I had different times that I would start bleeding and have to immediately go on bed rest and there's nothing like the doctor saying to you I know you have a three-year-old in a one-year-old but you need to be off your feet for the next 24 hours you know and I've been very busy with the do you work so at one point after another session of breakthrough bleeding I called one of my friends and I said I am so embarrassed to call you but I don't know how else to get help I've got to get off my feet and she said do you want me to go to heaven and I'm thinking oh for pete's sake what are we talking about I know I just I just want you to babysit for a couple hours and I said what do you mean and of course I wasn't a Catholic at the time and she wasn't talking about works/righteousness in trying to get to heaven but she said I need opportunities to grow in grace and service if you don't tell me you have a need you robbed me of the chance to serve you as they call turned around so all of a sudden now I'm thinking I'm doing her a favor by telling her I need the help that was beautiful that was beautiful very very well put if you look at James um okay if you look at James you know what I'm just gonna refer to it because I'm already seeing the clock going okay James 1 2 2 4 we're at where st. James talks about counting it joy when we hit trials because because it produces steadfastness it produces good fruit in our hearts and in our lives Paul does this in Romans 5 also that when we hit difficulty and suffering we're actually to rejoice in our sufferings because they will produce great fruit and Paul gives examples in the book of Philippians about how he is content again John referred to this when the rivals preached out of envy instead of feeling helpless that he's trapped in his house and he can't get out there and defend the truth and these people are promoting the gospel in ways that he wouldn't he chooses to rejoice in chapter 1 verse 18 because the gospel is being preached when his options are to die to stay in prison or to come to them in verses 23 and 24 chapter why Paul chooses to rejoice and even once the Philippians to rejoice because in a sense it's all good if in that circumstance he says to the Lord I will be where you want me to be it's up to you you release me from prison I'm gonna go to the Philippian people he leave me in prison I'm gonna continue to talk to the praetorian guard and I'm gonna write if I die it's better to die I'm gonna go be with Jesus so like the Philippian people and Paul we have a choice we have a choice to be content or what's the alternative to be contentious there's some really humorous proverbs about this and I'm just gonna refer to them on your own I would love to have you look them up but in proverbs 19 13 and 27 15 it says a contentious woman is like a nagging wife a constant drip proverbs 20:1 19 better to live in a desert land than with a contentious and fretful woman or this was Scott's favorite proverbs 20:1 9 and 25 24 say better to live in the corner of a housetop than a house shared with a contentious woman and how that was relevant was his office was on the third floor so if we were having you know an argument he would say okay I'm going to the corner of the house stop but you know it doesn't only apply to women proverbs 26 21 says as charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire so a quarrelsome man for kindling strife so what's the solution we have to choose contentment someone shared this thought and I thought this was so powerful because it's so simple I should desire no one else's life been mine no other husband or wife than mine no other children than mine this is God's will to be embraced with joy now according to Philippians 2:14 were to do all things without grumbling or questioning and the consequence in Chapter two is that that contentment is part of our bearing witness to the world that we belong to Christ and to do that we've got to hold fast to the Word of God again I made this comment in the scripture study I'm gonna say it again Protestants don't have an extra gene that makes scripture memory easier okay memorize the word put it in your heart have that opportunity to but to meditate when you're in the car when you're gardening and when you're doing things you can't open a Bible when you're in crisis and someone needs a word from you you don't want to be saying well somewhere in the Bible it says something about hope or something about anxiety you know how much better to look at them and say have no anxiety about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and then you just move right into prayer Lord we're gonna pray about this and we're gonna pray not in desperation we're gonna pray with Thanksgiving because your word says - and so we're gonna do that we're gonna honor your word and we know that you will honor this prayer and you will give us your peace you're bringing God's words not just your own to a situation finally joy isn't just a suggestion it's a command it's not like this would be good to put on your to-do list today see if you can rejoice sometime today chapter 3 verse 1 finally brethren rejoice in the Lord or 4:4 rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice we're to rejoice in the midst of difficulty and others will know God's presence and God's power through our forbearance and I've never read this before when I was preparing this in Deuteronomy 28 when it's going through you know 28 is Moses giving them the the blessings of being obedient in the curses of being disobedient and just listen to these two verses 28 47 48 because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart by reason of the abundance of all things therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you in hunger and thirst in nakedness and in want of all things we are commanded to rejoice now going back to chapter 4 verse 12 I know how to be abased and I know how to abound in all any and all circumstances I've learned the secret of facing plenty and want abundance and hunger what's the secret again this is really easy to memorize memorize this verse verse 13 I can do all things in him who strengthens me I can do all things in him who strengthens me what are the challenges that you face right now I just put my challenges in there I can love this child through Christ who strengthens me I can forgive my spouse through Christ who strengthens me I can face this day through Christ who strengthens me verse 14 yet it was kind of you to share your share my trouble paul has that humility to share to receive to receive the help that is offered the Lord is sufficient to meet our needs but he often does that through each other there was a story of a little boy who was a neighbor of a man who just lost his wife and he told his mom he wanted to go over across the street and so when he got back the mom said what did what did you do over there and he said nothing I just helped him cry second Corinthians 9:6 2:8 gives us some parameters from st. Paul about giving and I'm going to just read it real briefly because how we give is also important not only what we give so second Corinthians chapter 9 and get there most of these I wrote out to save time and I should have probably written this one out okay and it's very familiar the point is this he who sews sparingly will reap sparingly and he who sews bountifully will also reap bountifully each one must do as he's made up his mind not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful Giver and God's able to provide you with every blessing and abundance so you may always have enough of everything and they provide an abundance for every good work how are we to give Paul's commending them on their giving because they have reaped they have sowed generously and they're going to reap generously but there are other elements we're not to do it reluctantly you know it's interesting having tithe conversations with your children we always had our children on a budget and so when they got a dime then they were I gave them a nickel and five pennies so they could take a penny to church and give it to Jesus and then when they earned a little more it may be ten dollars then they took a dollar to give to Jesus and at one point one of my children said so if I make $100 I'm gonna give God 10 like that's right and you get to use 90 and if I make $1000 I'm gonna have to give God a hundred you get to give God a hundred yes you do you know it is like wow and I said you still get to use 90 percent okay but it needs to be done in cheerfulness it needs to be done in cheerfulness not reluctantly okay chapter 4:17 not that I seek the gift the gift that the Philippian people sent but I seek the fruit which increases to your credit I've received full payment and more I am filled having received from but aphrodite's the gifts you sent a fragrant offering a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God Paul wasn't seeking their help but he was so happy they gave for their sake because it was good for their souls to be generous who's the real beneficiary it's both of them it's the giver as well as the receiver and this is cultic language there it's a fragrant offering a sacrifice acceptable pleasing to God and that's really who we are supposed to be we are to be living sacrifices the gifts we give are just small representations of giving our whole self right turn for a moment to Romans 12 this is one of my favorite passages and when I sign books most of the time I put these verses in I appeal to therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that you may prove what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect there is so much in that passage and I'm only going to mention a couple things first of all it's an act of worship for us to place ourselves on the altar and especially at mass you know when we bring up the bread and wine it's to really represent us and when it's placed on the altar we're really to be saying to him I'm on the altar to Lourdes and it's one dear friend said to me the trouble with being a living sacrifice is we keep crawling off if we were dead we would just lay there right but we're not dead yet and so when when we say oh Lord I want to give you everything and then we realize he's asking us to you know maybe lend our car to someone or offer hospitality to a large family or you know it's like wow it's starting to pinch it's starting to be a little more challenging and we begin to crawl off the altar and then the Lord no honey you you really you want to be up there come on let's get back up on the altar I'll give you the grace you need to do it and a big part of how we can be faithful in that is we've got to keep being transformed by the renewal of our minds part of why you're here is to renew your minds so that you won't be conformed to this world so that you will be representatives of Jesus Christ in this world so that you can have the supernatural joy that makes no sense in so many circumstances unless your confidence is in Jesus then it makes sense and that will draw others to you that's I Pope Francis just says so much about the joy of the gospel can they tell our joy and especially in difficult circumstances when we're joyful it's just such a paradox than they're like what's going on how can you be joyful in this very difficult circumstance ok number 19 for 19 my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Jesus Christ Christ Jesus he will supply every need every need not every want but every need turn for a moment to second Corinthians 12 there will be things that come to your heart what the Lord is asking you to give up or to relinquish to him I'm gonna give you a few suggestions at the end of this talk I don't know what that will be but I can tell you that there will be things that when you think about it you will say there is no way I could do that and the great news is if he's called you to it he will give you whatever you need to be able to give to him what you need to give to him look at verses 7 to 10 second corinthians i'm in 1st 2nd corinthians 12 and to keep me from being too elated by an abundance of Revelation so thorn was given to me in the flesh a messenger of Satan to harass me to keep me from being too elated in three times I sought the Lord about this and it should leave me and he said to me and this is the key my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in your weakness I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest upon me for the sake of Christ then I am content with weaknesses insults hardships persecutions and calamities for when I am weak then I am strong when I am weak then I am strong this is one of the interesting things about the passage from Nehemiah I'm sure you've sung the song the joy of the Lord is my strength and it's it's mostly like a little children's song it sounds very bubbly and joyful and do you know the the background you know Ezra and Nehemiah had come back after exile with with the people of God willing to come back and they're building the walls and they're trying to rebuild the temple and then they find the book of the law and the people gather to hear the Word of God and it is so devastating when they hear the word of God because they are so far from living the truth and in the midst of that Nehemiah says that they're to eat and they're to drink and they're to share with others and rejoice because it's with the joy of the Lord they will have the strength to respond in obedience to what they heard for the quote for the joy of the Lord is your strength now we are all in different places but we all know we're at sinners in Prague in progress right every one of us has something to say when we walk into the confessional every time what the evil one wants to do is say you can't be a good representative of Christ because you've got this sin you've got this problem you haven't resolved this difficulty what the Lord is saying to you is you are my precious daughter or son I have called you and given you my Holy Spirit I am calling you out into the world to redeem the world through me bring me in joy to others something I'm gonna share Sunday morning but I know some of you won't be here so I'm gonna share it when the ruling came out actually several rulings by the US Supreme Court I just looked at my husband and I just said what is this world we are giving our grandchildren and I'm not prone to feeling down I just could hardly think and he said well Kimberley we've never given them the world he said we give them grace we give them faith we give them hope we give them wisdom and we pray so our eyes need to be on Jesus the example of st. Paul and the other Saints that John was mentioning an inch and then a heart open saying Jesus what do you want me to do how do you want me to serve you what do you want me to give up and we do this service not in cheerfulness you know it's not it's not about cheerfulness it's about joy because if we know who we are and what we're doing now when I want to give you a few practical examples we've got 12 minutes left what might God be calling you to good to do to say to give up to give away now first of course money is something we think of all the time and money is not the root of all evil is it it's the love of money so we need to detach from money and other things enough that we're really honoring Christ everyone is not called up called to give away everything but with the resources God has given you is there something he wants you to do is there something he wants you to do in a new way there's also the gift of time maybe some of you were being called for the first time to offer a Bible study in your parish or in your home you've taken the training you now have materials you're like um I think the guy next to me is gonna do it I don't think I'm gonna do it but I want to challenge you baby Jesus really is calling you to do that and to step out in faith and say guess maybe being on campus and hearing these challenging talks is opening your heart in a new way to pursuing an actual degree we have distance education degree in theology and we also have an online catechetical degree maybe God is stirring your heart to go deeper and even connect with the university more in in a in an actual program Scott mentioned I'm running for City Council it's a little crazy but it's it's a very exciting thing to say yes to the Lord to serve our culture to bring Christ to bear and I would really ask your prayers for this I think that there are strongholds that I'm not sure anything besides prayer is going to break here but I think the Lord wants Steubenville to be as a city to be a sign of hope and Saint they go thank you but that takes a commitment of time and money and energy and creativity and and and I'm very grateful for Scott's support in pursuing this I know it's God's will for me to run I had one have any idea if it's his will for me to serve so but I you have to do the next thing right okay there's a woman here who told me that she ran with an idea I had and we organized franciscan students to go into people's homes three hours a week usually on average 20 to 25 women volunteer each semester and they go and help free-of-charge a young mother in the area and I mentioned on a tape when my children are grown I would love to be one of those women who goes and helps and so she picked up on that idea and she began volunteering with young families in her parish you know maybe there's a morning every week one morning that you could commit to a young family and you might be like the one that is releasing the top of the pressure cooker giving that woman a little bit of space so that she sees how beautiful her children are and and has joy in that challenge of being a young mother how about possessions you know we give away a lot of things and for a lot of people I guess their home is their castle where you close the doors and you bar it this is where just us where we're just us and when Scott was introducing the people the other night it was such a joy truly a joy to hear him refer to different ones as having lived with us we have had thirty five men and five women live with us here in Steubenville in the last 25 years just on this team alone Michael barber lived with us for three years Curtis mich lived with us Ted's three Matt Leonard other people that you know like Tim gray lived with us for two years father Kasdan Cuddy you will hear about soon and he lived with us for three years they're three ordained priests now who lived with us for different periods of time but there are also lots of people who are just mothers and fathers and husbands and wives and we have been so blessed the example was my parents my parents came to this conviction in like I think it was the 70s when I turned 13 that some people were in great need and so they wanted to open the doors to a new convert to give some discipleship into model marriage for them one man moved in he had just come to Christ he dated a girl seven years had been engaged three years and it got down to six weeks before the marriage and she just said if you're not a Christian I don't know that I can marry you and so pretty emotional circumstances he met with my dad and my dad led him to Christ and it was a real leading to Christ and the next day she broke up with him and so my dad just looked at me and and he said do you want to move in with us I mean his life was really devastated and so he said yeah and I didn't know the circumstances so as we're helping him move into the third floor we're like you know the only way you get out of our house and he said what's that and I said to get married and he said I guess I'm here for life but a few years he lived with my parents about three years and then he did move out getting married they did it a little differently than we did it ours was more connected to studies into the university into Scott but they didn't come live with Scott they lived with our whole family we shared meals we shared work we shared prayer we shared life we were not interested in renters we wanted to be a household and I can tell you that the gifts they gave to us are immeasurable the privilege we had to live with each of these people is so wonderful you can't outgive God you want to give you one more example something that maybe you need to pray about we're giving up a son to the priesthood now you give up you give up your children in marriage unless they you know unless there's an unhealthy dependence where they live right next door to you there's not that living next door is unhealthy but I mean unless unless it's almost like you don't actually relinquish your child but you only add the other you experience loss now there's game you get the in-law you get the grandchildren and it's beautiful and wonderful but a lot of parents are very resistant to the idea that they would have a child who won't get married my parents don't understand it they're very concerned he's gonna be lonely my mother-in-law said but he's such a good dancer as soon as Scott became a Catholic our two little boys who were three and one mentioned the priesthood to me I was not Catholic I was putting him to bed and the three-year-old said I want to be appraised and I did not know that like every little Catholic boy probably says that at some point in time so I'm thinking this is like definitive for the rest of their lives and and the one-year-old says me too me too or maybe he was almost - me too me too and so I said I couldn't even speak I just put my finger up and I walked into my bedroom and fell on my knees and cried for about three minutes and then just gave it all up to God and I came in and said that's beautiful Michael and I put him to bed okay but when I was pregnant with Hannah and I still was not Catholic I was very concerned about how do I as a Protestant raise children who will say yes to Jesus no matter what and so what hit me was if I prepared them well to be husbands and wives and fathers and mothers they could say yes to Jesus for anything because the call to be a priest or a nun or a brother is not a call to be neutered it is a call to bring everything of your masculinity or femininity to Christ in service to him and so and so that became what I wanted to do you know really wanted to relinquish that to him so obviously we baptized our children and and at one point and it was defending the faith when Jer was about four years old I had raced into the house I wasn't done with my talk and and I I was trying to get everything together I didn't have an ending yet and I saw him right as I'm running out the door and I said Jer pray for mommy pray for mommy and he just went dear Jesus and I thought but I couldn't say that you know so I just knelt down and let him rest his little hand on my head and I gave him a little kiss and as I ran out the door I thought and there's my ending because our child becomes our brother or sister in Christ well now my son who is my brother in Christ is going to become my father Wow that's a foot and I know in future years they're going to be a lot more thoughts that come with that one probably will not be what it's like to go to my son for confession I don't think I've got enough humility to do that but what is Jesus asking of us what is he asking of me in what ways am i holding something back that he wants me to give him is it a sorrow is that is it a sorrow that they don't even know I'm holding on to and I need to give it back to him or his suffering in what circumstances is he saying Kimberley or Mary or Bob or Joe I want you to be content and trust me in a new way and his words to the Philippian people are so important for us we're to be generous weird to give God everything we're just about to go into mass what has Jesus withheld from you and me what is he held back what is it no no I'm not gonna give you that or I'm not gonna do that for you there's nothing and so the call of our life is to give it all back to him our weaknesses and our strengths our Joy's our sorrows everything and in this Mary's example is so powerful when she's faced with her mission she doesn't say I'm perfect for the job and she doesn't say all I could never do that I could never do that in false humility she just says behold the handmaid of the Lord be it done unto me according to thy word that's what he is asking of us will you yield will you trust me will you trust me I am trustworthy come to me give it to me lay it down lay it down I know he will lead us and guide us and thank God for st. Paul for putting these words to paper so that we could contemplate these mystery and we lead us in prayer in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit amen Lord Jesus you are the king of kings and the Lord of lords we owe it all to you and we give it all back please show us anything we're withholding from you may we trust you in new ways Jesus and thank you that your power is made perfect in our weakness Mary please pray for us hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit amen God you

Channel: Steubenville Conferences

Views: 13,063

Rating: 4.8333335 out of 5

Keywords: Steubenville Conferences, Catholic, Franciscan University, Catholic Ministry, New Evangelization, Youth

Id: CpeA5iNL5yQ

Length: 51min 6sec (3066 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 18 2016