Lila Rose: "Impact The World As A Disciple" | SEEK2019 Women's Session

for an incredible opportunity please hurry now because spots are filling it fast if you have any more questions please go check out the booth admission way or they had actually a lunch session today at 12:15 in rooms 133 through 139 so check out learn all that you can and go attend summer projects for those who are attending livestream and watching this great contact please keep sharing these videos we are loving to see just how many people are being reached and touched by the words spoken I want to get real with us ladies this morning this is our final morning with us just together and some of you are on this Jesus high right now and praise God for that whether it was adoration last night some of the talks that you've been going to and your hearts are just full but some of you might be comparing yourselves to the woman next to you and thinking wow I'm not there so something wrong but praise God for that too because God is excited no matter where you're at he has you exactly where he wants you to be and today is all about impact and the impact you can have but some of you might know you might have been on this high before whether it was a retreat or another conference and you know that it doesn't last whether it's going back home getting amidst your friends and family life can get difficult there are struggles going on and a lot of times we think there's no way I could impact anyone hearing all of this but that's a lie because God wants to impact the world through your brokenness through all of that pain and struggle I have the opportunity to talk to a few women and just hear about their prayer last night and you guys are carrying a lot right now some people have recently lost a loved one who's very close to their hearts some of your discerning your vocation and trying to figure out where God is calling you next some of you know your vocation and you're just frustrated and aching because it hasn't come yet but I'm telling you all of those struggles all of those areas that brokenness is where Jesus wants to come and impact the world and that's why I'm so excited for our next speaker because she brings so much hope to the most broken place in the world the place with the greatest amount of darkness she defends the most defenseless the unborn the founder and current president of live-action a media company that helps defend the unborn through saving those with abortion she was named red alerts 30 under 30 because of her courage and her spunk and I tell you she is on fire in watching some of her talks she lives a conviction every single day with her relationship with Jesus Christ so I encourage you to hear her words and take them to heart ladies it is my honor and privilege to introduce to all of you Lila Rose [Applause] good morning ladies first of all congratulations on winning a family feud that's a real awesome sign of girl power right there it's such a blessing to get to be with you all this morning we just went to mass we just got to see receive Jesus in the Eucharist or ask to receive Jesus or spiritual communion and now we're all here together and at the end of every Mass the words are eita miss AS in latin we heard it in english but go forth the mass is ended and the root of the word for mass mass comes from the word that is the same word in Latin for mission we're mission comes from to send to go out to be sent out I know this because I had to study Latin for 10 years growing up any Latin students here put on a weird thing by Coco I'm actually was raised I wasn't raised Catholic I was raised Protestant it's kind of weird also that I'd be studying Latin as a Protestant but my family was Mun I'm one of eight kids so it's also kind of weird that we had eight kids my parents had eight kids being of being a Protestant any big families I gave a talk yesterday and we did this little competition about how big who had the biggest family in the room and there were some people there with 13 siblings which is amazing but I'm so excited to be with you this morning because every single woman in this room every single woman here is being sent by Jesus Christ himself on a mission to change the world for him to bring souls to him and in that our own soul will be changed that means today there are 8,000 missions individual unique missions in this room the woman on each side of you yourself all of us here we share that we are being called by the same Lord the same love of our lives Jesus Christ and he's calling us because he loves us and he wants us to be a part of his plan his salvation plan for the entire world what an incredible incredible thing and for all of us for each of us it's going to look different the struggle is different and what I want to do this morning with you is talk about not tell you what what you're called to exactly I can't do that not tell you exactly where your life will lead as God leads you but I hope what I can do this morning it shares some tools that have been essential for me in my mission a mission that I had no idea when I started out on it about 15 years ago where it would take me I had no idea that I'd have the privilege of getting to speak before members of the European Union and the United Nations and the US Congress that I'd be doing things that I would have never dreamed of or planned for but it was because I I sensed in my soul early on I had a mission and I began a journey of that mission which I am still on today three months ago exactly to this day I'm actually celebrating an important anniversary today three months ago I entered into the heart of my life's mission with our Lord which is marriage I got married three months ago and I had prayed for years oh yeah there's there's me and my husband I have prayed for years for my future husband I was doing all this work I'll share a little bit about that in my talk this morning but I was doing all this work and trying to become a better woman trying to find out how to be the best I could be and I prayed for many years for my future husband and it took a little longer than I maybe thought it would I didn't even know if I would get married I thought maybe I wouldn't get married maybe God wanted me to be single but I prayed for years I wasn't raised past like I was raised Protestant it became Catholic later in life in college and I started to do it all the good Catholic girls do I so I thought which is to pray to st. Joseph and it's actually really legit st. Joseph's is real and he actually answers prayer and He loves us and he's looking out for us it might take a while if you're not raised Catholic or maybe you're coming back to the faith to kind of build a devotion they call these devotions devotions to Mary devotions to the saints but I started to pray these novenas to st. Joseph and all the other ladies I knew or doing it several of them successfully and I just thought you know what I'm gonna trust you with this because my dream had always been to live a mission marriage I wanted to be at a marriage with the man who wanted to change the world with me who wanted to be the best he could be with me who would love me and so praying to Saint Joseph well my oldest brother is named Joseph so I have seven siblings and my oldest brother's very been protective of me over my life you know in and out I'm checking and he's never really approved of any boyfriend that kind of thing so two years ago he introduces me to a guy and I'm like wow he's like but this is not a setup is just a friend I think you should meet him I had just moved back to the Bay Area from Washington DC where I just established a live-action office any DC fee boom Virginia people I do miss some things about DC some things I loved it but I also love California better California ladies I'm excited that the next focus conference is in Arizona nice and warm weather Arizona ladies awesome so my brother Joseph introduces me to this guy and his name was Joseph so st. Joseph had my brother Joseph which I never thought my brother Joseph would introduced me to my husband who's now named who is named Joseph so I married my Joseph from Saint Joseph that doesn't mean your husband has to be named Joseph and it doesn't mean Saint Joseph will only set you up with a Joseph and it also doesn't mean if you meet another guy who's not named Joseph he's not husband material and you might also date a jerk named Joseph so that doesn't that doesn't qualify every Joseph but I think it's pretty cool what I want to do to me this morning is give you some tools tools that have been essential for me in the mission that I've been on and that I'm still on and and the submission that I'm just beginning now in my married life and these tools I believe can help the ladies of this room these tools I believe are essential for our mission as we go out into the world to first discover maybe even what our mission is maybe a lot of you in this room are like I I have the sense in my heart of these things I have these desires I don't know what exactly it is or maybe we have pain and hurt and confusion in our hearts and so we need clarification even about our own lives and how to live our own lives or what we should even believe or maybe we're beginning a mission and we need encouragement we need we need some some some help along the way I want to begin with the words of Jesus who this is this is all about our Lord and learning from our Lord being a disciple out in the world today is about being discipled by Jesus Jesus and his church discipled by Jesus and in the book of Matthew Jesus is teaching his disciples so these are the first disciples these are the very first ones and Jesus is teaching them how to be a disciple of Christ how to be a Christian and in this parable that he tells and I'm gonna share with you is the parable of the talents who here has heard the parable of the talents a lot of us many of us great well you're gonna hear it this morning but right before the parable of the talents in the book of Matthew is the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins which is a really intense parable I recommend you read it at some point maybe later this week or in your as you're studying the Bible it's a very intense parable about being ready for Christ and being ready and when and preparing for Christ after that parable Christ gives the parable of the talents and then he gives us very beautiful teaching on the least of these and loving the least of these so he's kind of giving this whole picture of Christian life but in the parable the talents Jesus says for it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property to one he gave five talents to another two to another one each according to their ability then he went away he had received the five he who had received the five talents went at once the guy with five talents went at once and traded them in for five more and he got five more and then the one that had two talents went at once and traded them in for two more but he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them and he who had received five talents came forward bringing five talents more and said master master you delivered me five talents here I have five talents more and the master said to him well done well done good and faithful servant you have been faithful over a little and I will set you over much enter into the joy of your master and then so too with the second servant with the two talents Jesus delivers the same words well done good and faithful servant and then the third servant came forward and said with the with the one talent and said master master I knew you had to be a hard man reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed so I was afraid I was afraid and I went and I hid your talent in the ground here have what's yours but his master answered him you written you wicked and slothful servant you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where he scattered no seed so take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents for to everyone who has will be given more more will be given and he will have an abundance but from the one who has not even what he has will be taken away very strong words from our Lord very beautiful but very in a way a sense of admonition a sense of fear of wow the scared servant dug him in the ground and then that one talent when he showed up before his master was given to the one who had went out and invested Jesus is talking in this parable about our actual talents he's talking in this parable about the whole of the life that each of us have been given our abilities our intellect our heart our desires yes our desires I believe he's even talking about our wounds he's talking about the history unique history that each one of us have the lives that we've lived up until this day he's talking about all the stuff that has happened to us and makes us us everything in our life is ultimately given to us allowed to happen to us by God because he wants to redeem it he wants to use it it is meant for our mission that's how God works nothing is wasted that's the beautiful part of this it's not that your your talent I have this amazing talent or some of us do have talents we all have a talent we all have some kind of a different talent but it's everything in our life so what do we do with all of the all of our life what do we do with our life so that when we go before the master the master who's also our our lover the master who is also our friend see Christ here is taking on this identity in the parable of master but Christ is also the Lamb of God who went to the cross for us who died and rose again for us who loves us but here he's telling look you two you two have talents you two have a mission so come with me the first essential tool I believe for every woman in this room for me is to take time to pray every day take time make time to pray every single day prayer is the time where we settle and focus our hearts and our minds we settle our hearts and we focus our minds it's the time that's essential for us to take time with our Lord to tell him everything and to sort through everything in our hearts and everything in our minds I would have never have started live action I've started the mission that I've been on over the last 15 years if I hadn't had the gift the blessing of being raised in a family that prayed and so I knew what prayer was and I I wanted to talk to God I wanted to understand who God was I believe that God I believed I came to believe as a teenager for sure that Jesus was God I was going to this whole faith journey I wasn't Catholic yet but I would I would spend time writing in my journal then sometimes I didn't even really know the god I was talking to I just sensed deep in my soul that he was good and I sensed in my soul that he had a plan for me that was a special grace he has a plan for each everybody here and I had that sense I had he had a plan for my life and I found out about abortion at a young age I was interested in a lot of different causes a lot of different social justice missions that were important and that are important in the world but when I found out about abortion my heart was just cut I was so just moved because I thought these are these are little ones these are children and these are women and girls who are being lied to and also being harmed and there's so much woundedness here and so I wanted to do something I wanted to somehow make a difference I the fact that there were 3,000 abortions happening every day and all the woundedness and all the confusion and so I started to pray I would write in my journal and I'd say I have to do something I don't know what it is but I have to do something and I would say God use me use me to do something for this use me to somehow help save some life somehow make a difference and I had no idea where that journey would end up taking me and I'm still on a journey I don't know where it will take me in my own mission but I believe that because I actually took that time to think to pray to wrestle that's where the courage was born that's where the focus was born we need to take time to pray that's our time where we tell Jesus everything that's our time where we actually have that heart-to-heart that face-to-face like sister Miriam talked about that gaze and the world is so noisy the world is so loud it's such a blessing to get to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament or an adoration it's it's amazing you can sit there and you're like wow here I am in the presence of God it's it's a it's a quiet place but sometimes you might not have that luxury if you're not living close right now I live in Berkeley California there's like no adoration anywhere oh hi hey guys I love Berkeley but there's no adoration like anywhere and it's very hard to find and I like needed I get ADHD and I can't focus I'm like I need to just look at Jesus but I set a timer and I encourage you to do this set a timer every day just 10 minutes start with that maybe take a journal maybe take the Bible maybe take a book to do spiritual reading but take time to talk to God and start with telling him everything bring it bring the junk bring the fear bring the frustration bring the sin tell him everything he wants to hear that's where our heart is settled that's where our minds are focused and we need to do it every day it won't come in a flash of light usually our mission you know when I found started live-action it wasn't like an angel came when I married my husband it wasn't like there was this one moment that I knew a hundred percent sometimes that happens in our journey but it isn't always working now it doesn't always work that way it's through the events of our life where in our prayer it's confirmed but it can only be confirmed in our relationship with Jesus that is the only way to confirm our destiny our mission our purpose take time to pray the second principle for any disciple I believe for me has been essential is get help get help we are not made to do the mission alone we are not made to be disciples alone it's not just us in our Bible it's not just us alone we need community we need the church when I was in college I was cracked kind of a Christian faith I wasn't Catholic yet I was looking I was hungry I was really really busy I was traveling a lot because I started doing investigative reporting and so that was starting to take on this life of its own I was trying to be a student I was wondering if I was gonna get married I was dating and not dating and you know having you know the struggle is real trying to figure out what the heck how to live my life how to balance everything and what I was supposed to do next and I had this sense in my heart this like hole in my heart because I was looking for something I already believed in God in Christ and Jesus and I was trying to pray but I didn't know really how to pray and I would go to the Lutheran Church and I would go to their events and I would go to the Protestant church that met in the movie theater and had praise and worship and I had some beautiful experiences but it wasn't satisfying me and I was hungry and it was hurting because I was trying to live this mission but I didn't feel like I had what I needed for it and I was looking and so one Saturday night I didn't know I was gonna go to church the next morning I was you know different in and out of different Bible studies just trying to find this this the substance the heart of the faith and the theology I was studying theology along the way and I didn't agree with certain things in the Protestant world but I also wasn't sure where to find them I began to study the Catholic faith but it was sort of these ideas it was ideas to me and so one Saturday night a girlfriend said hey I'm going to this women's Study Center for mass tomorrow morning by campus do you want to come and I said sure I'd love to and so that next morning I went to this little tiny women's Opus Dei Center I didn't really know what that was at the time in Westwood and got some ladies at Western ladies over there awesome I went up to the second story of this little helm where there was this beautiful little chapel and I'm praying in this mass I've been to mass before I didn't really understand the mast it was so reverent and so beautiful and I thought something is here that I want something is here that I I need I didn't understand it I was I was hungry for the Eucharist I was wanting Jesus in the pre o presence I was wanting the communion of saints I was wanting the teachings of the church I was wanting 2000 years of the tradition I was wanting the sacraments so I turned to this woman in the back of the church and I said this woman that lived there I found out later she's in numeraire II this is in the Opus Dei prelate sure of the church this is a a special mission to be celibate for God and to live your life and service and mission it's very beautiful there enumerate priests and the numeral and so I turned to her and I said is there someone here who can like mentor me or something mentor that's the Protestant word for spiritual direction I didn't really know it but it's like it's somebody who can mentor me it's also a Catholic right I'm not it's not just crossing but in the in my tradition of faith I didn't know about spiritual direction and she smiled and she said yes you can come see me this week and I started meeting with her we started making a plan how I prayed how I learned what kind of virtues I wanted to grow in where I was falling short where I was struggling starting I started to learn more about the Catholic faith I started meeting with a priest and then soon within just a few months I was like this is it I found it Christ has found me here in this and I became a Catholic a little over a year later thanks be to God but we need thank you but we need guides we need the hides they're not gonna tell us what to do but they're gonna help us find the holiest priest or nun or someone that is living their faith and has formation how to guide and how to direct and ask them for help ask for help their blood and nuns and priests around here you can start here or maybe a back at school or maybe in your home parish but ask for help we need help we need help and we need friends a good Catholic girlfriend there's nothing like it one that wants to live in virtue one that wants to live in truth one that wants to be on mission with you the third principle I want to give you women the third tool is study your faith study your faith we are given this treasure chest of the faith it is a treasure 2,000 years some of the world's greatest philosophers theologians artists scientists writers study study it but catechism is there because it has a it has the proper understanding of the human person and of God it's based in the teachings of Christ in the Gospels in the early church fathers and doctors it is a treasure how are we gonna understand how to talk to the world about the most difficult things in the world today if we do not take the time to study to learn one of the verses my husband and I chose for a wedding Mass was from Saint Paul in Romans 12 do not be conformed to this world but be transformed be transformed by the renewal of your mind that you so that you may prove what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect the world is very confused today many people are very confused today life is not seen as precious life is seen as my body my choice this is not a life people say well I think something or I feel something so that must be the truth it's your truth there's no absolute truth there's no God your God into yourself people say that well marriage and love is whatever you want it to be it's what you feel it's where your your your attractions draw you and whatever they draw you to it must be good the world has many of its own ideas and many of these ideas that lead to the more more confusion more suffering more pain but Christ is calling us through his church the teachings of his church to be renewed to have our minds renewed there's a war for our minds today we need to renew them social media what's happening even in the classroom at our schools there is a war for our minds what are we thinking about we need to study the teachings of the church they're beautiful they're designed for us they're made for our flourishing they're made for our happiness they're made for our joy and the more that we can learn the teachings of the church on life on sex on identity on who God is on purpose the more we learn these things and they resonate in our minds and go into our hearts then we can share them then the opportunities to really live your faith and share it will come out of nowhere you'll be sitting having lunch and all of a sudden in a conversation something will spark and you'll be able to share part of the gospel or maybe the whole gospel because the beautiful thing is all these teachings aren't part of the gospel the good news of Christ the good news that we are meant for heaven eternal bliss and joy in community with God himself and all the angels and saints and that we are saved from our sin we are freed set free from our sin and made new beings new women in God new creatures in God the last tool that I want to leave you so we have take time to pray get help pretty simple study your faith this last tool is do not be afraid remember the servant they were afraid they kind of despaired they're like I don't trust the master I don't trust him he's going around and sweeping where he reaping where he did not sow and harvesting where he did not plant I don't trust him I'm burying it I'm burying it don't be afraid and if you are afraid of what God might be calling you to of God himself of Jesus you're kind of afraid of the church are afraid keep going don't give in to your fear don't give in to your fear keep going get up and go again get up and try again Jesus says in John 14 and 15 he's talking to his disciples this is right before he goes to his crucifixion so he's giving him them the final words his final words of love before his death on the cross and he says let not your hearts be troubled he's begun to warn them that it would get hard that it would get really hard the Christian life is hard life is hard but the Christian life will have its own struggles it will have incredible joy and peace we have the peace that Christ has to offer us and Christ says my peace I give to you my peace I leave you but he first says let not your hearts be troubled he says if the world hates you know that it has hated me before it hated you if you were of the world the world would love you as its own but because you are not of the world but I chose you I chose you out of the world therefore the world hates you remember the word that I said to you a servant is not greater than his master if they persecuted me they will also persecute you we have such good news for the world we have good news that life doesn't end at death that suffering isn't meaningless that our shame and our mistakes and our failures aren't who we are but that there is a God and who loves us to set us free from them we have such good news that Christ that God is a person that Christ came to save us we have such good news we have the answers to the questions that the world is asking and and in a define is hurting because of but we also in speaking this good news will be persecuted we will be made fun of we will be may be seen as weird or odd most of all Satan wants to attack us Satan doesn't want you to know who you are in Christ to know what God is calling you to to persevere in your struggle to discern and struggle to discover and then once you've discovered to persevere in living what God has called you to Saint Paul says in Ephesians that we don't just battle against flesh and blood but we battle against powers and principalities it's a spiritual battle it's a real battle but Christ is the king of the battle and Christ is in our corner crisis our Lord in our love Christ is our friend maybe when we go back maybe there will be that opportunity to speak the truth when it's very difficult maybe there will be that opportunity with friends when you could share something gently lovingly but you could still boldly share something that might help someone because it's the truth the truth sets people free and maybe you don't want to say that because you're it's you're afraid it's scary or maybe you're don't want to look different or maybe it's just hard it's hard to be the one that's trying to be good and trying to do trying to follow him it's not easy sometimes and the world can be very loud and angry and opposed to the teachings of the church the teachings of Christ but at the same time the people of the world are made for it our brothers and sisters our classmates our family every single person in the world is made for God they're made for love they're made for truth and so well the world may persecute us what we're bringing the world despite it which is our Catholic faith which is the teachings of the church which is our love our service our listening our presence what we may experience that persecution we will also experience fruitfulness we will see people change we will see our loved ones maybe we'll take a long time we will see change I would have never have thought of the changes that I would get to see in my life a few months after I became Catholic they were on their own journey but several of my family members came into the church a few years later another family member came into the church they're still a few family members were praying to coming to the church friends that have come into the church it might take a lifetime they might take a month but the changes will happen and when you stand up and when you speak out in a world that wants to silence the truth because it can be hard to hear but it is exactly that truth that will set them free when we speak out then we can open the door for God to enter in with the words of Christ with the teachings of his church we have to not be afraid and if we are afraid keep going keep trying keep going Jesus also says and this is something that has brought me so much consolation because sometimes this idea of picking up our cross and carrying Christ it can seem difficult and heavy and Jesus also says come to me all you who labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and meek of heart and you will find rest for your souls you will find rest for your souls Jesus is waiting for us to come to him when the going gets tough and it goes all the way back to the first principle take time to pray we're gonna get that peace that serenity if we take time with our Lord if we go to the sacraments if we can receive him in the Eucharist if we're struggling with with with our failings if we're struggling with sin of we're struggling with shame to go to the confessional I try to go every week every two weeks if I can't make it every week but I try to go very regularly don't just wait for you a really bad sin but to go regularly just like we go to Mass every Sunday and if we can't during the week to be with him we need him and that's when he can help take our burdens that's when he can help carry our burdens and we have our crosses to carry too but he he says actually I will give you rest I will help you carry them I personally want to carry them for you I want to leave you with some words from Mother Teresa who has been a huge inspiration for me even before I became Catholic I was just so moved by her love and her service for the least of these she loved the least of these that's what her mission was and she first discovered her vocation when she was a young girl up to be a nun and then when she was a nun she discovered her vocation within a vocation her call within a call to found the missionaries of charity and she would say very strong words about abortion she was a firebrand she would speak out the truth wherever she had the opportunity but most of all she called people to love our Lord and to be loved by our Lord and to see our Lord and every person that they encounter and she says these words and their words for every single woman on this room in this room as we live our mission as as we go out into the world after this beautiful conference tomorrow go out into the world to continue to discover and to live our discipleship mother Teresa tells us st. Teresa tells us Jesus will use you to accomplish great things for him great things for him on the condition that you believe much more in his love than in your weakness only then will his hand be free with you we believe in his love and so we go out on our mission thank you so much ladies god bless you [Applause] [Music]

Channel: FOCUS Catholic

Views: 34,834

Rating: 4.897717 out of 5

Keywords: catholic, focus catholic, catholic conference, seek 2019, SEEK, catholic women, college catholic, youth catholic conference, christian, lila rose

Id: Bsh0T8qjySY

Length: 38min 44sec (2324 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 06 2019