[♪] <i>Man: Mother Angelica Live!</i> <i>brought to you from</i> <i>the Eternal Word</i> <i>Television studios</i> <i>in Birmingham, AL.</i> [♪] [♪] <i>Mother Angelica: See in you,</i> <i>the love, the compassion</i> <i>of Jesus.</i> <i>The most glorious work of all,</i> <i>to praise God.</i> <i>Everybody moved by the</i> <i>Spirit lives in love,</i> <i>lives in God</i> <i>and God lives in him.</i> [♪] <i>What a wonderful thing,</i> <i>is our Church.</i> <i>This whole network is</i> <i>built on trust.</i> <i>The essence of evangelization</i> <i>is to tell everybody,</i> <i>Jesus loves you.</i> <i>We’re all called to be</i> <i>great saints.</i> <i>Don’t miss the</i> <i>opportunity.</i> [applause] Mother Angelica: Thank you, thank you. Okay! Well, we just have wonderful friends way back there, way over here. [group chuckles] I felt like I was listening to myself. Did you hear that? [audience laughs] Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and sometimes we’re funny. The priest really works hard to get all those ashes on your head. [audience laughs] It doesn’t look good with your makeup but it might improve it, who knows. I’ve always wondered why men got them over their heads and what do they do when they’ve got a bald head? I mean, it must be really spread around but it’s a reminder. Now, we have a real problem and we’re a problem from any priest because from here to here and we hope he makes it but usually it drips all the way down our nose. So, we’re running around all day with ashes down our nose. We’re a little scrupulous about taking them off but there they are most of the day. But it’s a reminder that says, "Dust thou art and dust thou shalt return." Oh, wow, we don’t expect that do we? How many of you think of death? How many look forward? [audience laughs] That’s awesome, there’s not a person here looking forward to death and the reason is we don’t know too much about Heaven. But we should look forward to death because, well, that’s where we’re aiming for. You’re going to spend eternity somewhere. That’s what’s so funny, you think like you’re going to die like a dog and rot. No, no, no, no, no. You’re not a dog. You’ve got intelligence, you’ve got a mind and memory, intellect, will, and you make up your mind to do something, you’re going to do it and so, you’re different. As animals, we’re dumb, the dumbest. We used to raise sheep and goats. Well, the goats you can have but the sheep aren’t too bad cause the goat, one goat we found on our roof one day. Nobody knows how he got there, but it took the fire department to get him down. Now, a sheep will never climb up to a roof but they’re very dumb and I think that’s why our Lord called us sheep. [all chuckle] But they just don’t know what to do anytime. You got enough cough drops here buddy? Okay, there you are. But anyway, they’re not very bright. But we saw one, a little lamb being born and he struggled and he knew exactly where to go for milk. We don’t know where to go for milk. I mean, we are dumb. Somebody has to take us, wash us up, put us in the little crib, feed us, wipe us up again, feed us and wipe us up again, feed us and that goes on for quite a long time. We can’t climb a tree like a squirrel. We can’t fly like an eagle. We can’t move our nose like a rabbit. We can’t do anything. Animal wise, we wouldn’t make it. But see, God gave us a part of Himself, that’s the awesome thing. See that’s what He did. So, He gave me an imagination and a memory. I can remember. I can do anything like that. Then He gave me an intellect to discern. So, all of you who maybe wanted to come a long time, see that was in your imagination. "That’s going to be and have a nice place to go." And so, you figure that out. You have the money, you had to find somebody else going and then you had to pay and then you know the whole trip is going to be especially uncomfortable. I mean, you can have the best bus in the world and it’s always bumping up and down. It never stops when you want to stop and you want to sleep and everybody else decides to sing. [audience laughs] Isn’t that true? And then you want to sing and they’re all sleeping. I mean, that’s, that’s, what is that? It’s a penance. You’re not supposed to enjoy a bus ride. You’ve got to be miserable. You know, Lent to me is something like New Year’s Eve-- everybody gets drunk tonight. I’m glad you’re not drunk. But don’t they at Mardi Gras? I mean, they do some pretty terrible things and some people are up here because they don’t want to be down there. Why? We do that Christmas Eve. We do it Mardi Gras. And see, the thing is we are going to do penance for 40 days. So, what do you do? Oh, you give up candy. That’s pretty good. I’ll make a bet though-- if you only give up candy and cake you won’t lose a pound. [group chuckles] I never saw anyone that gave up sweets during Lent that lost a pound, not a pound! Why? Because your motive is wrong. See, for Lent you’re supposed to give up something that’s lasting cause I know not giving up candy isn’t lasting. You know, Christmas Eve you’re going to gulp down on those Easter Eggs. You know that. Well, I don’t see the purpose of offering up candy. Why don’t you offer up your temper? [Mother chuckles/group laughs] That’s what I’m going to do for Lent. I want to give up my temper and try to be nice to my enemies, wherever they are but it’s nice to be nice to enemies when you don’t even know who they are. Maybe they’re far, far away but I don’t know them. So, then I really can’t give up that. I need to give up something that I know is wrong in me and then perhaps these 40 days will get you in a habit-- not this kind of habit-- but a habit of not losing your temper, a habit of being nice, a habit of being kind and begin with your family. Sometimes we’re just so wonderful to people outside, then when we get home we’re like bears. "What do you want?" Well, you’d never say that to somebody outside. You’d say, "May I help you?" But if it was home, you’d say, "Get it yourself." [audience laughs] Isn’t that what’d you’d do? I don’t know why we get kind of nasty to our, our relatives and then we’re so nice to strangers. I guess because we don’t live with them. Well, if you’re going to be nice, begin at home because what’s the use of being nice to people you work with when you’re a bear at home? So, that’s a good penance for Lent and then maybe you can carry it on. Another one is not to gossip, [audience laughs] not to gossip. You say, "I don’t gossip. I just explain the faults of others." [audience laughs] Isn’t that what we do, we explain the faults of others. So, we don’t really gossip and then we say, we always tell the truth. Well, we call that slander. This election year, is it? Nobody’s getting excited over it, no. Well, during election year you watch, every ad is going to say something nasty about somebody else. In fact, you read that even with toothpaste, toothpaste. My toothpaste is much better than this group of toothpaste. They’re all the same. They do the same. They brush your teeth. The, the taste is different, but toothpaste is toothpaste. I used to brush my teeth with soda and salt. Now, they say that’s terrible for your teeth. Well, it’s better than not brushing them at all. Why don’t you use a toothpaste this Lent that you don’t like? [audience laughs] Wouldn’t that be a nice penance? Get up in the morning, your husband says, what is this? And it says, My Lenten Toothpaste. What’s that? Something I hate. Ate? I said, hate. Oh. Now, you say that’s a simple thing. No it isn’t. I got some terrible toothpaste, oh, a couple of weeks ago and oh, I wanted to get it out of my mouth so bad. It tasted, oh, like cyanide. I said, oh and it was for kids besides. Those poor kids, you know, no wonder they don’t want to brush their teeth. It was terrible and then suddenly I thought, well, this is a pretty good penance for early in the morning. So, I brushed my teeth a little slower and spit it out, but even in the sink it looked terrible. Now, that’s a little penance. Going to a restaurant can be a big penance, big penance. Did you ever go to a restaurant, especially these ones that keep slinging out hamburgers by the millions, you know. Oh, you can smell that peanut oil when you walk in and you wonder how many thousands of hamburgers were in that peanut oil before I got it. [audience laughs] Well that could be a penance. Old peanut oil in a hamburger is terrible. Now, we could complain, throw it down on the shelf and humiliate the, the waitress but no, we eat it. It’s not spoiled, it just stinks. So, see, those are penances and we get angry at that kind of thing. I come in here, I paid good money. I bet you didn’t tip the waitress. I could never be a waitress. [audience laughs] If I had, if I had to wait on 9 people at a table and I got a .50 cent tip, I’d take that ketchup, [audience laughs] squirt it on everybody and quit. That’s a good penance for Lent. Those waitresses and waiters, they don’t get a lot of money. One time, I think I told you earlier some of you, I went to New York and the cab driver was a woman and I never saw a woman cab driver, especially in New York and so we started off and I said, "Oh hi." "Hi." I said, "You been a cab driver long?" "Yes." I said, "You like being a cab driver?" "Yes." I thought to myself, I don’t think I ought to talk too long. [audience laughs] It’s a bad day for her, you know and so, I shut up. When we got out, she got out and I gave her a nice big tip and I said, "God bless you." I never saw tears in anybody’s eyes as big as hers and she said, "No, God bless you." And I thought, you see how wonderful that was because I don’t know what she was upset about. I don’t know what tragedy, what heartache she had, I don’t know anything about this woman who is a cab driver but I do know that giving her that tip meant a lot to her, probably what she needed. That’s a nice thing. When you go to a restaurant be generous. You say, well, I only have $5. Well, eat $4.50 worth or $4 worth, see because those people live on tips. They don’t get a lot of money. I did that one time at one of these Barrels or Crackers or Cracker Barrel? I know it has something to do with crackers and a barrel. [coughs] Anyway, I gave this young kid a tip. He said, "Thank you, I can eat today." I said, "You mean you’re in this restaurant and you can’t eat today?" "No," he said, "I’ve just got enough money for my rent." Now, see, if you had went into that restaurant and maybe there’s something wrong, there’s always something wrong and then angry or picky but see, if you overcame that, see what a wonderful thing that. That’s a penance? Why? Cause you don’t want to do it. I said to him, "I’ll give you another dollar if you tell me how to run this thing on this table here." He laughed, but see there are a thousand things a day this 40 days that you can say, this is my Lenten penance. Now, you say, why, why do I have to do a penance? Because you’re a sinner, that’s why, you’re a sinner and if you say, you’re not a sinner, St. John says in his epistle, "You call God a liar." Didn’t think of that, did you? You can’t say you don’t sin. I don’t mind, His triples, since I’m in television. You’re supposed to laugh at that. [audience laughs] It looked like you agreed with me you know but anyway, we all have it and what does it do? Sin a lot of times is a mistake, it’s a mistake sometimes. Sometimes it’s deliberate. Sometimes we know we shouldn’t do things but we do them anyway. You know, you shouldn’t go through a red light. You look this way and you look that way and off you go, dangerous. So, usually when we sin, we know, but we do it anyway. So, what is that? It’s a lack of will power. You can’t say no to yourself. Now, what does Lenten penance do? First it begins by putting ashes on your head to remind you that eventually the person that was in that casket is going to be a couple handfuls of mixed bones and ashes. Think of that when you wake up tomorrow morning, say, it’s Ash Wednesday. Look good at yourself, won’t be there when you die in a few weeks. So, the idea is to remind you of death, that’s one thing; to remind you, you do not have here a lasting city. You don’t. You’re going to go, but we don’t like to think about when you’re going to go. Now, the 2nd thing is that when you do penance for Lent you imitate Jesus and secondly, you strengthen your will. So, when something sinful comes your way, you can say no. See, there’s a twofold advantage to doing penance, real penance. Not giving up candy, for goodness sakes. Your hard up if that’s all you can give up. You give up candy or smoking. Oh, now that’s a nice one. Give that dollar and a half to the poor or something. What is it now $2, huh? You don’t even know. You must not all smoke but see, if you gave something up, something that costs you, not money but cost you something in here, then by the end of Lent you’re stronger, your will is stronger to say no to more important things. See, the whole thing of Lent is not give up candy, sweets, cake, cigarettes. Well, that’s smart, cigarettes because you’re just rotting your lungs out. You don’t know it huh? It’s getting blacker everyday. You ought to look at one. I saw one in formaldehyde that said, "This man smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day," and that lung was like charcoal, looked like charcoal and I thought, a little sacrifice that man would have lived longer. See, it strengthens, there comes a time in your life when you have to say no to something very difficult in your life, when to say yes would be so easy. Wanted to say yes might even bring you a compliment like, oh you did great but to say no is harder. Now, that’s what we call human respect. You know, you know things you should do and things you shouldn’t do but if you want your friends to think well of you, all you teenagers listening, that’s how you got in a lot of trouble wasn’t it? They said, oh come on, take a drink. It’s not going to hurt you, one drink won’t hurt you and you don’t want to hurt them, you didn’t want to look like you were weak and so, what did you do? You took one and then 2 and then 3. See what happens. We call that human respect. You get in trouble; you commit a grave sin because you don’t want this person to think ill of you. Do that for Lent--say no when you have to say no, when saying yes is a very serious thing see. A nice place for Lenten penance is your car, especially if you drive the minimum down the highway. [audience laughs] Which is what, 45, is that what it is and you can feel the vibrations of everybody behind you and then they look at you like, you’ve got to come from another world. Well, maybe they’re short and their feet don’t reach low enough to go faster. You don’t know that. That’s a nice penance, not to criticize your neighbor during Lent driving down the highway and all you men are notorious for that. "That dumb woman, she don’t know how to drive." [audience laughs] "It ought to be a law, women off the streets." Well, wouldn’t that be nice if you didn’t swear at somebody while you’re driving or you had, you’re in a hurry and you get every red light. It’s like somebody’s after you. Every single red light you get and the worst is when the slowpoke that you passed goes ahead of you. [audience laughs] I mean, that is worth a gripe but see, during Lent if you would say, "Well Lord, you know, I can give this to you or I’m not going to." You know, I hate people honking their horns at me. I don’t drive but they’ll honk their horns at maybe Sr. Regina and she’s going the speed limit. This one time was so delightful, this guy honked his horn, then he gives you that look. Nuns get a look that’s a little worse than women. [audience laughs] They’re sure we don’t know how to drive see, so he looks at us like, eww--and I had thoughts. I tell you I did have thoughts. [audience laughs] I thought them but I didn’t express them and that’s a good penance for Lent. Anyway, we turn the corner and there was a red light and guess who was there, my speeding friend. I couldn’t help it, [audience laughs] I tried but it’s like some invisible being pushed up my arm and I went... [audience laughs] You see, those are, you don’t realize how many daily penances we have. I love tea, not this tea that’s flowery like blueberries and elderberry tea and flower tea and leaf tea. I like tea that’s tea, strong, looks like coffee and the worst thing in the world is when you’ve got a bad cold and one of the sisters wants to do something for you so bad. "Can I make you a cup of tea?" "Yeah." When it comes, I look at it, I say, "Ooh, what is that?" And she smilingly says, "Tea." "Oh, thank you." Then I look at it again and I’m hoping she goes away. [audience laughs] She doesn’t. So, I have to drink it in front of her. [audience laughs] A little bit darker than dish washer. She says, "You like it?" "Yeah." [audience laughs] Well you say, that’s not true. Yea it’s true because she put her heart in making terrible tea but her heart was there, see. She doesn’t know how I like tea, so and these are little things, little things. You go to the office and you feel bad and everybody there is happy, everybody, even your grouchy boss is smiling and you’re looking around, everybody is smiling and laughing and you just want to say, drop dead but you don’t. See that’s the virtue. There’s just so many, many, many, if you’re a saleswoman in a, in a woman’s store, especially a shoe store and you try on one shoe after another and half of the shoes are on the floor cause this character tried them all on. Not one fit. It’s like she had the special shoe, a special foot that only God could create and you’re tired and then she walks you on out and she pats you on the head and says, "Sorry sweetheart, they just don’t fit," and you look at this mess of shoes that you’ve got to put back. I think that’s very difficult and for the little money you make, you work hard, not only hard but it’s a virtue level that’s different. Waitresses have the same. Well, give that to the Lord and say, "Well Lord, I give You this penance. It’s a real honest to goodness penance not to put your foot out while she trips over 10,000 shoes, see. [audience laughs] It’s a penance when somebody comes in, asks for a cup of coffee but when you bring it it’s too cold, so you bring it back and you get another cup of coffee. What am I going to do with this, it’s too hot? And you’re thinking to yourself, don’t ask me what I’m going to do with it but if you go back 3 or 4 times like that and they don’t buy anything else, they don’t buy a hamburger, they don’t buy a meal, there’s nothing there worth a tip and you say, there must be another job around here. Like the time I was in an airplane and it went [Vroom] and all the meals went on the floor and right beside me was this poor waitress and she was full of coffee, pie and whatever else was on my tray. She looked at me and she said, "There has to be a better way to make a living." And I thought that was wonderful cause that’s all she said, that’s all she said. So, in your life, don’t just tomorrow and please go for ashes. Leave them there a little while. Why there’s no use going home and washing you face. Everybody #1, knows you’re Catholic, #2, it reminds them that they’re going to turn to that same back little stuff. See, it’s not a matter of a penance for 40 days. It’s a reminder there’s a lot in me that hasn’t changed a bit. I’m going to work on that for Lent and then you have a handle on it see and besides, this year you’ve got a Jubilee year. So, between now and tomorrow morning, think tonight, what can I really do for Lent? We have a call. Hello. <i>Caller #1: Hi Mother</i> <i>Angelica.</i> Mother Angelica: Hi, where are you from? <i>Caller #1: Um, I’m Joni</i> <i>and I’m from Delaware.</i> Mother Angelica: Ah ha. <i>Caller #1: And actually I</i> <i>have a 2-parter.</i> Mother Angelica: You what? <i>Caller #1: I have 2 parts</i> <i>to my question.</i> Mother Angelica: Okay. <i>Caller #1: Um, the first</i> <i>one is, I go back and</i> <i>forth with my friends</i> <i>about this one.</i> <i>They seem to think that</i> <i>there’s a Sunday exception</i> <i>during Lent for whatever</i> <i>you’ve given up or</i> <i>whatever penance you’re</i> <i>doing, they seem to think</i> <i>that there is an exception</i> <i>on Sundays, because you</i> <i>don’t have to do that or</i> <i>give that thing up, you</i> <i>can have it then.</i> <i>That’s the first part and</i> <i>then the 2nd one, I was</i> <i>just wondering if either</i> <i>one, which was more</i> <i>pleasing to God, I don’t</i> <i>know if there is one</i> <i>that’s more pleasing but</i> <i>whether you should give up</i> <i>something, for example,</i> <i>for me it would be coffee</i> <i>or versus doing something,</i> <i>like giving more of your,</i> <i>going to Mass daily if you</i> <i>don’t ordinarily do that?</i> Mother Angelica: Wonderful! I think going to Mass daily for Lent is wonderful but why don’t you keep it up? See, get in the habit during Lent. Now, Sunday, well, I really don’t know. I never thought of it myself. I suppose, it depends on what you gave up. If you gave up adultery, it wouldn’t, it wouldn’t. [audience laughs] [audience laughs] I don’t think Sunday would be an exception. [audience laughs] I wonder why I said that? There must be somebody out there that needs it. Anyway, I would think if you’re doing something pleasing to God, that’s okay. If you gave up a nap, well Sunday’s a rest day. You’re supposed to rest on Sunday. I know what you could do, just rest and don’t go play golf. Oh...look at that. [audience laughs] What did I say? I did a thing on golf, oh, a couple of years ago, I didn’t intend to but I do think it’s a stupid game. And because you hit a ball and you don’t have the slightest idea where it’s going. You think you do and you don’t know where it’s gone and the people you pay, that’s what gets me; the people you pay to play golf do everything in their power so it’s hard for you. [audience laughs] They put sand and sand dune, they put a little creek and they put a little thing like that and the hole’s here and there’s no way you can get to it. And so you do all of that on a Sunday. I think that’s labor. [audience laughs] I think, I think the one who rests on Sunday is the poor guy that carries your bag, see, because he has to watch you huffing and puffing and if you don’t know how to swing the ball, it’s really funny. So, he has a nice time on Sundays but you, so I would be careful what you give up before you can think you can do it on Sunday see, like maybe you’re a hobbyist and you like to make bird things, you know, what you call them and then you work all day Sunday making birdhouses. Now, I think Sunday, Sunday has to be a day of rest. The Holy Father put out something on really following the day Sunday as a day that belongs to God. Now, that’s a good Lenten penance for some of you who don’t ever read a spiritual book. Read funnies and crazy things but you never read a spiritual book. Why don’t you go to your local bookstore, hopingly it’s a good one and buy a spiritual book. If you’ve never read the Bible, buy that and on Sunday read it, read a good spiritual book and you’re resting as the Lord said you should. At the same time you’re learning something spiritual, you’re learning something about God. Now, I don’t think if you’re fasting I think you should have a good meal on Sunday. I think that’s a good idea. It doesn’t mean you have to eat 2 pies, 4 pizzas and then burp the rest of the week. [audience laughs] That isn’t what it means, you see. So, I would, I would do something exceptionally well. In America we have not learned what the day of rest means. We’re always doing something we can’t do during the week. Now, if you’re a nurse and you’ve got to work or a doctor, that’s different but I think I would do that on Sunday. We have another call. Hello. <i>Caller #2: Hi Mother.</i> Mother Angelica: Hi. <i>Caller #2: I’m Chris</i> <i>and I’m from Coventry,</i> <i>Rhode Island.</i> Mother Angelica: Ah ha. <i>Caller #2: And I enjoy</i> <i>watching your show.</i> Mother Angelica: Well thank you. <i>Caller #2: You’re welcome.</i> <i>I have a question.</i> Mother Angelica: Yea. <i>Caller #2: Last year we went</i> <i>to get our ashes and</i> <i>I had my son who was 5 and</i> <i>my daughter who was a year old</i> <i>and they didn’t give</i> <i>either one of them ashes</i> <i>and I was wondering why</i> <i>and this year he’s in</i> <i>1st Grade and he goes to</i> <i>a Catholic school and they</i> <i>told him that he wouldn’t</i> <i>be getting ashes again</i> <i>this year and it was only</i> <i>for the big kids and I was</i> <i>wondering why they said</i> <i>that.</i> Mother Angelica: Only God knows honey. [audience laughs] I don’t know. You know, it’s so funny at this day and age. At this day and age kids at 3 and 4 know the facts of life, they know everything. They’ve been exposed to violence, to murder, to everything but we don’t give them ashes. They do dangerous things. See, they don’t always, you say, well, you don’t want to teach them the Trinity because it’s too deep. I think some of the stuff they learn on television is equally too deep. See, don’t, don’t cut God out. If they don’t give the ashes, take some of yours and say, here sweetheart we’ll share ashes together. They need to learn. The thought of death says Alphonsus Ligouri is a constant reminder not to sin. Last week I told you about the car accident we saw. Half the car was gone and crushed like tissue paper. Now, these people were probably in the car talking, laughing, whatever and all of a sudden gone, nothing left but see, we need that-- [coughs] excuse me-- because children listen to so much television. They know about death. They know everything more than they need to know. So, for some reason, I don’t know, they don’t give them ashes. Well, share yours. Make a nice act of love and charity. We have another call. <i>Caller #3: Hello</i> <i>Mother Angelica,</i> <i>my name is Theresa.</i> <i>I’m also from Rhode Island.</i> Mother Angelica: Well wonderful. What’s your question? <i>Caller #3: I looked forward</i> <i>to the Jubilee year</i> <i>all last year.</i> <i>Every time I listen to</i> <i>usually it’s Fr. Augustine</i> <i>who says it--</i> <i>that in order to receive</i> <i>the plenary indulgence one</i> <i>of the requirements is</i> <i>a detachment from sin.</i> <i>I end up feeling like,</i> <i>is there anybody actually</i> <i>going to get the plenary</i> <i>indulgence?</i> [audience laughs] Mother Angelica: Did I hear right? [audience laughs] Well there’s all kinds of, did she say discipline? Huh? [indistinct talking] Oh you should be or you’re going to... [makes noise] See, you have to be detached from your sin. It may be a slow process. I don’t know what kind of sin you’re talking about see. There’s all kinds of sins. There’s gluttony, you eat more than you need. Detach means you can get away from it. See, you have, you cannot be detached from sin just during Lent. That’s a contradiction. If you have a habit of sin, any kind of grievous sin, you’ve got to be detached forever. You can’t die, go to Heaven and say, "Lord, you got me at my undetached week." You can’t. If it’s a grievous sin and there is grievous sin that we call mortal, used to call mortal sin, and you know, it separates you from God. You have to stay away from it and that’s what it means being detachment. You’ve got to stay away from it. If there’s any venial sin, you have a habit of lying. Oh, you say, it’s not a big lie. It don’t hurt anybody but it’s a habit, a bad habit and there’s no, you know, there is such a thing as venial sin and when you go to Communion and offer that Communion for your venial sins, they’re wiped away. You’ve got to know that but detachment from sin is a necessary thing in Lent and outside of Lent, because we’re just kind of on a wire, you know and we’re just kind of going this way and that way and you don’t want to fall. So, detachment has to be a constant thing. Like if you tell dirty jokes, you don’t want to just stop for Lent. See, that’s bad cause you offend God. Now, you can stop for Lent trying to hope to get you out that habit see but you can’t just do that. So, if you feel you’re attached to a grievous sin, you’ve got to go to confession, try to get the indulgence and then from that moment on no more sin. We have another call. Hello. Hi. <i>Caller #4: I wanted to ask,</i> <i>how can we learn to</i> <i>love sacrifice?</i> Mother Angelica: Well, takes time, takes time. First you have to love God a lot and then you love sacrifice and the only way you can love sacrifice is to know how awesomely wonderful it is in effect, in effect. Padre Pio said that if we knew how awesomely precious His pain and sacrifice we would covet it, we would go after it. So, when things are hard and we can do them well, that’s a sacrifice, see but if I’m thinking of Jesus, for example and I think if we have a habit of having proud, arrogant thoughts and I look at Him crowned with thorns, then I can make a sacrifice, see. If I find myself thinking a proud thought, then I must give that to Jesus and think a humble thought. So, it, it takes time. The saints were comfortable with sacrifice. We’re not too comfortable. I mean, we’re not people who like sacrifice but we have to, we have to see and after awhile when sacrifice and love for Jesus go together, then we love the sacrifice because it brings us closer to the Lord, see. Anything that’s hard brings us closer to God, [coughs] and I can make that intention. Intentions are important see. Intentions are very important. We wake up in the morning and say, "Jesus, I give my whole day to You." That’s a sacrifice sometimes because you don’t feel like talking early in the morning, so you get that black stuff we call coffee. You’re not even halfway awake, let alone nice. Well, maybe for Lent you ought to be nice before your coffee. Try that. Isn’t it humiliating to think that it takes that black stuff, strong, sometimes without sugar, without cream, to wake you up and it isn’t just the waking up, to make you halfway decent. I’ve got to have my coffee. Where is it? Where’s the coffee? Right in front of your nose if you had your eyes opened. See, so that’s a humiliation. I think it is. Well, maybe you can give that up and try to say, "Lord, this Lent I’m going to be nice before my coffee." Try it. I bet you don’t make it. [audience chuckles] Well, it’d be funny wouldn’t it, all these homes in America trying to be nice before coffee. Wouldn’t that be nice, hah? Wouldn’t that be wonderful but the more you can sacrifice, well, let’s take this, if your child is sick and has high fever and you’ve got to stay there day and night, you love that. The sisters and I took turns staying up all night with Sr. Raphael. We loved it cause she was there and we were with her, see but that kind of sacrifice is something you like to do and you do. We have another call. Hello. Hi. <i>Caller #5: My name is</i> <i>Reynolds.</i> Mother Angelica: Yea, how are you? <i>Caller #5: Okay.</i> [audience laughs] <i>My question is, on</i> <i>Wednesdays and Fridays</i> <i>during Lent.</i> Mother Angelica: Do what? <i>Caller #5: Don’t you have</i> <i>to like fast?</i> Mother Angelica: You talking about food? <i>Caller #5: Yea, like on</i> <i>bread and water.</i> Mother Angelica: Oh, I don’t think we do that anymore. I don’t know anybody that does it. I think there may be a few very brave people. Tomorrow you must fast. I know you’re not going to like this program but tomorrow, Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, you have to fast and also Good Friday. Now, and you should stay away from meat on the Fridays of Lent. See, that was a sacrifice imposed on us by the Church years ago when we all ate fish on Friday and fish is good for you. It’s brain food--whatever that is--but it is brain food, some fish especially. So, feed your brains on Friday. I think that’s a good idea, don’t you? That’s brain food and if we were smart then we’d eat fish more often because it’s all brain food, some fish more than others but see, even though we don’t have the bread and water fast we used to have but on tomorrow, Wednesday, unless you’re over, what is it, 60, 65, 70, I don’t know but somewhere in there you cannot eat meat tomorrow and you should fast a little bit and you cannot eat meat on Good Friday but that’s taken for granted, hah but if I were you on Fridays I think the Church advises us to do some penance and not meat is a big penance for some people. I don’t particularly like meat but I’m not a vegetarian cause I’m hungry, I eat only vegetables. So, that doesn’t work for me, you know but you can do a penance on Friday like be nice to your wife on Friday. Why don’t you take your wife out for a fish dinner? Wouldn’t that be a good idea? Sure it is. You could do a lot of things like that during Lent. It makes you more loving, more caring-- that’s the important thing-- and remember if you have children, teach them something about Friday sacrifice and then that way you all learn together that love and sacrifice go together. It really does and so, all of us, we want to pray today, this month for our Holy Father. He must have unbelievable burdens, unbelievable. If you have all these millions and millions and millions of Catholics under your care as the Shepherd and we polished up the great gift he gave us a couple of weeks ago and we’re going to, well somebody’s going to carry it for, on Corpus Christi, but let’s remember the greatest gift in the world is to know Jesus. The greatest gift in the world is the Eucharist. There’s no greater gift and I can have Jesus in my soul and heart and body. There’s no greater gift than to go to your church and just sit there and say, "Well Lord, here I am and I love You." There’s no greater thing you can do, a short prayer, yeah, but no prayer in the world is greater than to say, "Jesus, I love you." It’s true of us as human beings, it’s true of your children when they say, I love you, it’s true of everything. They say even plants know when you love them. I think that’s true. One of our sister can take, go to a big beautiful little tree or big tree she’ll cut off something [boom] and when I do it, it goes bump, when she does it, it becomes a tree but see, she loves trees. Well, I like trees. I don’t love trees. So, that’s a difference. See, when she plants it, it grows. When I plant it, it seems, even when I say, "Come on, cutsie, grow." Jean will come up and she’ll look at this plant and she says, "Come on, come on, come on, come on, come up, come up," and it grows. Well, anyway, remember let’s grow in holiness and that’s something all of us can do and we must do, we must do, cause time is short, very short. The days pass quickly, don’t you think and one day it won’t be ashes on our heads, it will be ashes in the box and you’ll be it. So, have a happy Ash Wednesday. [audience laughs] Bye now. [applause] [♪] [♪] [♪] [♪]
