Lord and Giver of Life ~ Pt. 1 ~ Theology of the Holy Spirit

let the games begin thank you very much as you know the theme of this conference is on the holy spirit Lord and giver of life it will be something like a hockey game it's an essential topic something you need to be in touch with something I need to be in touch with we have entered very unusual times radical times trying times definitive times cataclysmic times times where mediocrity is no longer sufficient you either strive for and achieve excellence or you might not make it because we are at war and our battle is not against flesh and blood and so through the course of this day I'm going to touch on four facet of the holy spirit the first presentation is going to be mainly on the person and power of the holy spirit then we'll talk about the Holy Spirit as the gift who contains all gifts and then a passage from Scripture the Holy Spirit is given to those that obey let me say that again the Holy Spirit is given to those that obey the Holy Spirit is not given to the disobedient which goes a long way toward explaining some of the mess we've had in the church for quite some time the reason we have a mess in the world a mess in the United States and Canada it's not a problem out there it's a problem in here because we have failed miserably in many cases in the church to be what we are called to be Jesus gave the church to hold creation and being to the degree that were faithful to the degree that we accomplished our mission as individual members of the body of Christ to that degree were able to hold the world up to the degree we fail the world begins to sink into hell under the weight of its own iniquity one person at a time that's how this battle is fought you have an indispensable place on the battle line doesn't matter how old you are eight or 80 your level of education none of it matters you're a human being made in the image and likeness of God and because of that you're called to fight the good fight a failure to do this and by the way about 80 percent of Catholics don't even go to mass on Sundays regularly 80 percent you wonder why we have problems 20% of all or less of Catholics in North America bother to go to Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation I have my own ideas about why that is and certainly there are societal and cultural problems that contribute to them but the problem is mainly not out there the problem is right here a crisis of leadership we have become frequently weakened the knees and soft in the spine afraid timid that won't get it that will not win a victory and so today we're going to call upon the Holy Spirit be with us strengthen us give us that bold spirit that will enable us to fight the good fight and run the race to the finish line let me begin by reading to you a section from the Catechism of the Catholic Church which I know you all have a copy of and you study rigorously on a daily basis at the end of this conference the doors will be locked and an examination will be given and you and getting out until your passing number 7 number 6 83 and this of course quotes st. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying Abba father this knowledge of faith is possible only in the Holy Spirit to be in touch with Christ we must first have been touched by the Holy Spirit he comes to meet us and Kindles faith in us in virtue of our baptism the first sacrament of faith the Holy Spirit in the church communicates to us intimately and personally the life that originates in the father and is offered to us in the son if we have problems problems in the world problem problems in our country problems in the church these can all be traced back to the problems in individual human persons if we are out of touch with the Holy Spirit we're out of touch with God that's another way of saying you're out of touch with reality one definition of God is reality God is remember God revealed himself to Moses I am Who am and we have from the beginning in Christian philosophy intuited that to mean God's very essence is to exist God is absolute reality if you are out of touch with God you are out of touch with reality and that is a good working definition of insanity to be out of touch with reality have you wondered when you look around see some of the things that that we have to witness today in our country in the world it's crazy it's insane that's why a succession of school shootings why wouldn't that happen you evict God from schools nature abhors a vacuum it's not going to be empty it's not going to be neutral you want God out evil will come in that's an absolute fact don't believe it stay tuned because it's not going to get any better it's going to get progressively worse until enough of us wake up much of this is our fault it's our fault you know when we wonder why you know you watch the news and and they're they're astounded that this could have happened 9/11 oh how could this happen how could God permit such an evil you don't want God around what do you expect we have systematically eliminated God or tried to and I don't mean you I don't mean the the good people but a large segment of the population or at least a segment of the population that has power in politics and even in law have tried to systematically eliminate God I remember one of my philosophy teachers in the seminary who is a very fine priest in a fantastic philosopher he I remember it was maybe the first a second class I ever had in in philosophy and in tears in tears this is 20 some years ago he was saying how society wants to eliminate religion expunge religion from the national consciousness and yet all the while replacing it with a religion called secular humanism an atheistic kind of worldview cold inhumane and in that time what have we seen a death wish a death wish the Western world has a death wish from artificial contraception to abortion murder and mass murder suicide and assisted suicide euthanasia from beginning to end from the moment of conception to the last moment of natural life we have a death wish in society why wouldn't we have trouble and lots of it the remedy to death is life the Lord and giver of life the holy spirit from the very beginning when God willed creation into being was the Spirit of God the spirit the power of creation where that began I want you to ask yourself a question now I know that you are good good Catholics and good Christians for the most part you need to ask yourself a question do I have a personal relationship not only with the Lord Jesus Christ which you certainly should have you should have a personal relationship with our heaven father the Lord Jesus Christ and the person of the Holy Spirit have you ever on a regular basis prayed to the Holy Spirit have you invoked the Holy Spirit before doing important things before reading the Bible studying the faith or you're kind of disinterested and detached from the person of the Holy Spirit we need there's been a lot of talk about it in the past few decades but we are in need of a new Pentecost we are in need of a serious new Pentecost and without that nothing is going to happen we need to get in touch with the power of the Holy Spirit again you can do this in a formal way in an informal way you know it has to happen I suppose I've been waiting for a lot of these things to happen you know to come from the top down people have an enormous misconception about the Catholic Church many of them and one of them is that were organized we're not organized that's a joke I remember a story from the Second Vatican Council a certain Cardinal was having dinner with two Protestant observers of a fee at the council in Rome and they were kind of chiding the Cardinal like well the Catholic Church is kind of losing it you know you guys are slipping and you know well you're on you're descending we're the ones who are ascending we're opening new churches left and right in Central and South America and so forth and so on and the Cardinal kind of smiled he says oh so you you guys think you know you may going to help to facilitate our demise and they just kind of look smugly Adam in the Cardinal burst out laughing and he said look you're not going to destroy it we've been trying to do it for thousands and more years and we can't do it the churches of divine institution the church isn't going to go anyplace I'm going to be here until Jesus comes again in glory but there's that there's you know yet we love the church love the leadership of the church love your priests your bishops love the Holy Father be faithful obedient got to do that that that's basic that's axiomatic no question about that do not however use that as an excuse or a cop-out to sit on your button do nothing if you don't strive for excellence one person at a time you will contribute to the terrible suffering in the church and because of that in the whole world it's called personal holiness the Holy Spirit is the author of that he's the Lord and giver of life if we have a problem with death and we do we need the spirit of life personified love now there been a lot of sermons and homilies on love in the last half a century or so rightly so love is important so if I asked you on your exam this afternoon what is love I know you would get it and I don't know how many people are in the arena just yet there'll be you know they're still coming in but I would guess that over 10,000 people and out of that number if I ask you for the definition of the theological virtue of charity not more than seven of you wouldn't get it but for the sake of the seven charity is the theological virtue and listen to every word of this charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake and love our neighbor as ourselves out of love for God the indispensable prerequisite for authentic love is union with God you better first have your love in place with God I call that the vertical dimension of love you know our relationship with God then you are empowered by the Holy Spirit to love each other to love all creation that's the horizontal dimension of charity what do you have when you have the vertical dimension and the horizontal dimension across no cross no real love no sacrificial self giving love no love some kind of an impostor to the throne some other emotion Christian love agape love real charity is self-sacrificing love if I love you if you love your husband you love your wife your children and so forth your friends what does that mean that means I desire the highest and best thing for you what's that heaven if I love you I desire heaven for you and I'm willing to do anything and everything to get you there and some of you don't want to go we need the Holy Spirit the Lord and giver of life in order to live authentic love love is not merely a warm fuzzy emotion love's not just a feeling love is a decision let me tell you something some days I don't feel like loving you you know I've been being ordained it's like being married it's it's a very good analogy and we use that analogy it's biblical you know Jesus is called the bridegroom in Scripture right well if he's the bridegroom who's the bride the church right the church every priest is taken up in Jesus the high priest and espoused to the church I've been married for 18 years now right I've been a priest for 18 years now in a very real way and it's a good analogy it's it's like you folks who are married you know some of you have married 50 years I met some of you yesterday or more during the course of that marriage that relationship you know as you vowed in the beginning in sickness and in health you know good times and bad and so forth some days you know I work in slaves and work my fingers to the bone and you don't appreciate me all right some days it isn't easy to be married some days it isn't so easy to be ordained what do you need at those critical junctures love authentic love not some secularized diminished distorted concept of love was just an emotion now self-sacrifice and crucified love no cross no love no cross no crown no pain no gain period exclamation point no way around it how do you sustain that kind of love only through the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit is like the fire that came down upon the altar of the Cross the wood of the cross and consumed Jesus priest and victim and at the moment of our baptism we are taken up in Christ we become a new creation Jesus priest prophet and King you share in that as part of the royal priesthood we we ministerial priests in an essentially different way we share in it too but what's the essence to offer sacrifice and to be sacrificed that is the essence of the New Covenant priesthood that is the essence of Christianity that is the essence of authentic love anything short of that is insufficient so when things get tough you have to realize that you need this fire who is the Holy Spirit you remember what happened at Pentecost and I'll talk about this more at length in the final presentation this afternoon but you remember that the that the disciples were in the upper room with the doors locked remember for for fear fear of the Jews the spirit we've been given is no cowardly spear no Kimmage spear now I know a lot of you think pretty much like I do on some things a lot of things probably look at our country come on look at the politicians that we have even some of the leadership in the church I'm sorry you know I don't want to tell you something I'm getting old and the older I get the ornery or I get and I'm kind of impatient and I don't have time to play silly games and watch what I say it's too late to mealy mouth around it's too late to play games with the truth it too late to hold back I remember about the first public sermon I ever delivered after I finished my doctoral studies in Europe was in Pensacola Florida and I gave my personal testimony and at the end of it an elderly Monsignor came the crowd was on their feet cheering and I was all fired up with the power of the Holy Spirit in this whole Monsignor walked right up to me said he was shaking visibly and it wasn't because of his age he said young man young man you can't speak that way in the Catholic Church that kind of talk is inflammatory and I said Oh Monsignor you better believe that kind of talk is inflammatory Jesus said I've come to cast fire on the earth you know how I long did it already be ignited no fire no power no power no victory you might as well roll over and play dead because you are without the fire and power of the Holy Spirit when I delivered my original catechism lectures in the Diocese of Sacramento we had so much opposition to the bishop and myself for doing this it was unbelievable and it was a formal diocesan program Oh many of the priests and religious said oh this is pre Vatican to the people don't want any catechism people would call up to register for the program and they'd hang up on them priests got in the pulpit and said don't go see this father Groppi because if you go see him you're going to seyton I was working for the bishop doing his program and they did everything they could to subvert it discourage it and destroy it in the end there was no facility in the diocese big enough to hold the numbers of people that came thousands young and old 8 to 80 Catholics Baptist Presbyterians Lutheran's Pentecostals Buddhists Muslims Hindus I did it for a year one Saturday a month for 12 months in a large number of people learned their faith came in to the Catholic faith we had Hindus and Buddhists entering the church why the Spirit of Truth the spirit of life the human intellect is made for truth the human will or heart is made for love of the good and your heart and your mind will be restless until it rests in God as Saint Agustin said we have to take the initiative and that means you in your own place now I don't mean you have to go out and preach on a street corner what I mean is in your own place and your own vocation be strong in the Lord draw close to the person of the Holy Spirit you've got to do this don't let this go in one ear and out the other because I'm going to tell you something before I speak publicly again there will be even worse problems in the United States of America and the rest of the world you can do something about it you can do that you have to do something about it you know we love the church I know you love the church and I think you love your country too we have a lot of our friends from Canada here you know part of my part of my family's from Canada my half of my mother's family grew up in french-speaking Canada no french-canadian Fonteyn Canada has problems like the United States has problems like all of Europe has problems it's like collective insanity some of the stupid decisions and I mean stupid inexcusable ignorant arrogant why no holy spirit that's why how you going to make good you know what one of them the biggest punishment for sin is I think immediately I suppose he'll would be ultimately but immediately one of the worst consequences of sin is the removal of leadership when the populace gets away from grace and truth and love and goodness authentic good solid enlightened leadership is removed happened in the Old Testament the Jewish people became unfaithful to the Covenant and what happened that they they had leadership removed and they lamented Oh Lord whoa is us we have no priest prophet or king to lead us well open your eyes and see the weak leadership and know what the reason for it is very simple sin that's the reason leadership is removed when a people a nation the world gravitates towards darkness you don't want God in school you want to evict God from all public places if you are ignorant enough to believe that the founding fathers of this country didn't want God in this country you are ignorant indeed in plain English and you know we're taking it quite nicely while they hijack the country and not just this country all the Western world been hijacked by an atheistic secularist philosophy and ideology culture is infused with it it's like injecting death into the body well don't just lay there and die you better fight the death for all you're worth because if you don't I'm telling you your children and your grandchildren are toast this is the first time in my life that I'm certain the kids coming up won't have near the opportunities that we had they won't unless you do something you know there are all kinds of interesting there's a lot of information that that's available to us today we with the internet and the means of social communication we have so much at our disposal I can do research now sitting in my office at home where before I would have had to go to Rome or sit in library libraries for interminable hours going through card catalogs and and microfiche and and now I can sit at home with my dogs laying under my desk keeping my feet warm and get all kinds of of research information we have a tremendous problem with poverty right even in this country poverty is a terrible thing we have to care for the poor we do we do the Lord loves the poor and you better love the poor or you're not a Christian you better have a heart for the poor for the hungry the homeless to disenfranchised you don't have the Holy Spirit if you don't have a heart for the poor in plain English now let me tell you something about poverty in the United States of America the ten most impoverished cities Detroit Michigan number one thirty two point five percent of the people living under the poverty level you know what number two is Buffalo New York number two is Buffalo New York the second poorest city in the United States twenty nine point nine percent of people living under the poverty level and Cincinnati Cleveland Miami st. Louis El Paso Texas Milwaukee Philadelphia and then Newark New Jersey now these are cities over 250,000 people and those percentages it's between twenty four point two and thirty two point five percent of the population of those cities living below the poverty level I am NOT a politician and I don't engage in politics I am a Catholic priest and part of my obligation responsibility and mission is to convey the truth in season and out of season convenient or inconvenient accepted or ejected and it's my duty it's my duty to tell the confused politicians and political appointees judges or whatever that I will engage in my mission and don't try to say that I'm engaged in politics don't try to say will remove your tax-exempt status if you don't watch out you can kiss my big fat Italian elbow I don't have tax-exempt status I gave it up more than ten years ago because I knew they would use that as a lever to keep our mouths shut and the day is coming the day is coming with a Catholic Church if we don't get strong in a hurry and United with the Holy Spirit in a hurry we're we're already we already nevermind it's common gotta tell the truth we have frequently been cowed into guilty silence we have been afraid to speak out full-throated and unsparingly because we are afraid to lose the stinking tax-exempt status well I'll tell you what that isn't the Holy Spirit masquerading under the specious pretext of a Prudential judgment it's gross cowardice they go through with some of these unholy sick decadent plans like the freedom of choice act and so forth if they don't shut down every Catholic hospital they risk their eternal salvation you cannot go along with these things and while I'm at it in case anybody in here is confused you can't be Catholic and pro-choice forget that right now there's a lot of confusion in the Catholic Church and has been for decades now I'm probably going to say several things many times in the course of this day we have a terrible crisis it's a crisis of faith it's a crisis of morality it's a crisis of leadership there is no excuse whatsoever there is no proportionate reason for electing people that are so grossly radically and uncompromising ly allied with the forces of death it's not possible Catholics have been grossly guilty in many cases of facilitating the demise of this country Canada the whole Western world when Pope Paul the six came out with his prophetic and magnificent encyclical Humanae Vitae the vast majority of Canadian Bishops wrote a letter came to be known as the Winnipeg statement infamous statement they rejected the teaching of home on a vitae on the sacredness of human life you know they believed in artificial contraception artificial contraception is intrinsically evil read my lips in critically evil and there is no excuse for it in those priests who have counseled people in the confessional that they can follow their conscience on this they are grossly deceived in guilty of subverting the faith of little ones no excuse for it none whatsoever now I started to tell you about these ten poor cities right the ten poorest cities in America and this isn't a political statement this is a moral statement okay now someone will misconstrue it you know report me to somebody fine make my day alright Detroit Michigan number one on the poverty list in the United States of America they haven't had a Republican mayor since 1961 that's not a political statement by the way that's a that's a statement concerning philosophical moral social and cultural issues Buffalo New York Buffalo New York second on the poverty list the second poorest city in the United States of America has an elected a Republican to office a mayor since 1954 when I was seven years old Cincinnati Ohio since 1989 Miami Florida has never had a Republican mayor nom now campaigning for the Republican Party I'll tell you something I used to be a Republican I'm not anymore they aggravated the heck out of me I'm not a Democrat and I am NOT a Republican and I'm not a politician some of you may think I'm sounding like one but I'm not I'm concerned about the morality of my country listen to this the moral demise of a nation always precedes the ultimate demise of a nation we are going down unless we wake up and the only way that's going to happen is one person at a time that's your mission be one with the Holy Spirit allow the Holy Spirit to empower you be open you know Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting different results so you know we elect certain kind of politicians over and over and over and over again and expect different results forget it you get what you deserve they're both corrupt they're both decadent and they're both cowards both sides you know it's almost impossible to elect someone who's objectively and independently moral on every issue oh they can rise to a certain prominence but they don't have much of a chance of being elected why because most of the people have lost their mind you expect a different result that insanity when millions of technically insane people or voting look remember what I said insanity is to be out of touch with reality God is the definition of reality God is pure reality you're out of touch with God you're out of touch with reality so don't expect anything other than an insane result until we inject some sanity into people you know listen it's the poor who habitually elect those who keep them poor let me give you a little quote here from Abraham Lincoln you cannot help the poor by destroying the rich you cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong you cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift you cannot lift the wage-earner up by pulling the wage payer down you cannot you cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred you cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence you cannot help people permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves Abraham Lincoln he knew what he was talking in his words of every bit as relevant today as they were around and after the Civil War this is so cool and you see there's such a lack of logic now we've had some problems you know all the problems we have is because we're out of touch with the Holy Spirit the Lord and giver of life remember and I'm going to talk about it in the next session the gifts of the Holy Spirit wisdom knowledge counsel understanding piety fear the Lord and silver you don't get those gifts if you evict the Holy Spirit remember st. Paul said with the temple of the Holy Spirit don't you know you're the temple of the Holy Spirit therefore do nothing meaning sin to evict the divine guests if you're living chronically in sin you you will not have the Holy Spirit to guide you you you're in darkness how can you see if you're in pitch-black dark you can't like a blind man he can't see don't get mad at him it's not possible for him to see this what you're seeing this craziness in politics even in law in society in your family among your friends sometimes you know how you use that why can't they see it they're blind blindness is a direct consequence of serious sin they are blind the splendor of truth they are deaf to the symphonic note of truth they're mute they can't speak to words of truth the lame they're crippled they can't walk towards God it requires a miracle to give sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf and make the crippled man walk indeed to raise the dead to life that has to happen one person at a time Jesus will come in the power of the Holy Spirit through you and through me and don't expect it to happen any other way you have to do this this is an optional you know we're going to be called it at the end of our life we will be called to give an accounting and I'll taste on this this scares me I don't take this for granted don't think I'm in in a different boat from you I'm in the same boat you are the query of our st. John Vianney great patron saint of parish priest and you all have read you ought to read his life story this year this is a year for priests this year you know that Holy Father has declared this year for priests we read about st. John Vianney in case you haven't st. John one of the things that one of one of the many wise things st. John Rene said he said I'm just delighted to be your brother in Christ through baptism I am scared to death to be your pastor and I know what he's talking about everyone you know you don't go alone up or down you don't go to heaven alone and I don't go to hell alone and so forth and so on we don't go alone you will take a large number with you to heaven or hell we are responsible for souls each in our own way priests in one way the lay faithful according to their own state life religious according to their stay in life but we don't go alone don't forget that work assiduously work hard with all your heart mind and strength you can't achieve excellence in anything I don't care what it is I learned this very early on my father was a tough man and he was my boxing coach for a while and I wasn't immediately good at boxing but it got to the point where I was scared not to be better than good because if I took a beating in the ring I didn't want to go home and face him that may sound harsh but he taught me something there is no excellence there is no victory without blood sweat and tears no pain no gain no cross no crown you're not going to be great in anything without the blood the sweat and the tears and that's what we call to excellence contemporary society with each passing beat of our heart is degenerating not excellence mediocrity and worse individual initiative Drive quest for excellence being drained other people you cannot be happy unless you strive mightily for excellence be the best priest you can be be the best religious you can be be the best mom and and wife you can be be the best dad and husband you can be if you are doctor be the best physician in the world if you're a plumber be the best plumber in the world strive for excellence and you will be happy you will have peace in this life and the next and it doesn't matter your education level your ethnic origin how intelligent you are how lacking and intelligent you are listen my mic and I know this is true for many my grandparents and great-grandparents they were you know they were immigrants they had nothing when they came to this country nothing they work twelve sixteen hours a day six days a week two three jobs and were happy to do it they were thrilled to be able to do it I'm not saying this is a good thing but in my house where I could have learned Italian and French fluently by the time I was seven eight years old so then by you know by the time I was in grammar school I could be fluent in three languages didn't happen you know why because in those days the people were so focused on being a good citizen of their new country they wanted the children to focus on English and whatever it took to strive for excellence in school they were delighted to be citizens and productive citizens too many people today think the world owes them a living and in our gross ignorance we are encouraging that kind of sick thinking you know we've gone too far maybe with radical capitalism the church doesn't support that radical unbridled out-of-control capitalism that has no concern for the poor we don't support that in the Catholic Church and it went too far they took liberties you know they squandered money there was corruption and greed and now let me tell you the danger the pendulum swings too far to the other extreme toward pure socialism which is a curse 1891 pope leo xiii wrote a landmark encyclical called colonel neva room amazing 1891 and one of the lines from this and we would do well to remember it in the catholic church and in our country and in the world in general he said so you think socialism will help the poor I tell you socialism will not help the poor rather it will reduce everybody to the same lowest common denominator of poverty and misery while at the same time drying up the very sources of capital 1891 watch out America watch out the pendulum may well have swung too far to the right the abuses of extreme capitalism but watch out that we don't end up with a worst danger swinging too far to the left with pure socialism doesn't help the poor it reduces everybody to the same lowest common denominator of poverty and misery well where does all the extra money go to the government to expand power not to help people and so be very very careful the Holy Spirit is light the Holy Spirit is power and courage and every one of us needs this right now become one with that fire that pure fire the Spirit of Truth spirit of love the Lord and giver of life the Holy Spirit right now at this critical juncture in history every single one of us needs to be one with the Father Son and Holy Spirit you become more like Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit and that's what brings you into union with the father do this please don't let this go in one ear and out the other fight the good fight run the race to the finish line I promise you in the twinkling of an eye we're out of here life will give way to death time to Eternity but you'll approach the judgment seat of God with confidence because having done this having operated in the power of the Holy Spirit you'll be able to perform your mission you'll stand before Almighty God he'll smile at you then you'll hear these beautiful words well done well done my good and faithful servant now at last enter into the joy of your master's house god bless you you

Channel: God Bless Fr.J.Corapi

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Length: 61min 15sec (3675 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 16 2014