Night of Hope | Steubenville Livestreamed Conference 2020

[Music] coming to you live from christ the king chapel at Franciscan University of Steubenville we are so excited to worship with you there's a number of us here in the chapel and we know there's thousands of you online let's come together and let's worship the Lord with a song of Hope a God who is with us always and will carry us through to his glory amen [Music] the same guy [Music] the same God the devil 8 spoke in all things working on things out yes I will in the Loess Valley well yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the same God [Music] the world [Music] the same god Emily get off me [Music] in [Music] sing for joy when my [Music] [Music] [Music] I [Music] by nothing can stand against [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh yeah [Music] amen and I'm really excited to introduce our host for this evening sister Miriam Hyde Lane thank you Bob yeah yeah I'm very delighted to be here good evening good evening it's like real people I'm introverted but I've missed people over the last few months and so just for all of you here and all of you thousands have you gathered online we're so gosh we're so just delighted to have you and I think we have to admit that the world has changed a lot over the last few months and perhaps in many ways that we didn't even think we're possible and I don't know what's happening in your heart tonight I know you know here we are everybody's wearing masks here in the chapel and you're maybe behind a screen wherever you are and it just can be kind of weird and you just think to yourself gosh is anything gonna go back to normal are we ever gonna go back to the way it was and I just want to invite you in this space whether you're physically here or you're watching online just to allow the Lord to speak to you in a very deep way our desire for this night of hope is that you have a deep encounter with the Lord wherever you find yourself so just want to invite you just to minimize any distractions and kind of just settle in to wherever you are whether that's on your living room couch sure you're sitting someplace else you're sitting outside or you're here in the chapel and just to let the Lord administer just minister to your heart it's just to bless you so deeply I know for myself like the last few months have been just challenging on a lot of levels and when this first began kind of that the world began to shut down and you could see that things were changing very rapidly I I live in a very rural town in the south and I just remember having the Lord just interrupt my thoughts one day and he was very very very very succinct in saying this is very sacred time that you're not ever going to get back so I want you to pay attention to what I'm doing I'm gonna transform you if you if you let me I'm gonna do this and this is the reality of going through the ups and the downs of life and the joys and the sorrows and so we come to this night of hope with hearts that are very full I think if we're very honest and the beautiful thing about Hope the beautiful thing about this night and about hope is Christians that it's not wishful thinking this is not a night of magical thinking this is a night to proclaim and to have the Lord of you'll tell us who he truly is the God is faithful to his promises and that he loves us and then no matter what is happening in your life and my life that God cares about that and he's so attentive to every detail of our lives so tonight as we begin this night with worship we're gonna have worship we're gonna have a duration dr. Scott Hahn is gonna give a beautiful keynote on cultivating Eucharistic amazement we're gonna have a Q&A we've got a full lineup for you this evening and we're so excited that but what we really want you to do we just want to invite you right now wherever you are just to close your eyes for just a second and I just want you to just to open your heart and just let's ask the Lord Lord where do you want to encounter me tonight I just want to invite you just to bring an intention to the Lord right now and maybe it might surprise you and there's a part of your heart that really needs hope there's a part of your heart that really needs an encounter there's a part of your heart that really needs the good news and just to allow that to surface whatever it is and just to let the Lord speak to that there I'm let's just open our hearts tonight like an altar where the Lord can see everything where he can minister to everything and he can speak to the deepest desires of our hearts and bring us the hope of who he truly is so we'll just continue with worship now and just let the beauty of the worship wash over us and open our hearts I hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly trust in Jesus name [Music] my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly trust in Jesus name Christ alone cornerstone weak made strong in the same years love through the storm he is Lord Lord [Music] to hide his face [Music] unchanging great every high and stormy again my [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh [Music] when he shall come with trumpet sound [Music] in him be found dressed in his righteousness alone faultless stand before the throne Christ alone cornerstone weak made strong in say through the storm he is lord [Music] No [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] he is the [Music] you are Lord crazy Lord God many things have changed over these past few months but one thing has not changed it's the glory of God his love for us in his power you come tonight and confident hope knowing that if this God is for us who can be against us [Music] you hear me when I call you are my morning song the darkness feels the night it cannot hide the light whom shall I fear you crushed the underneath my feet you are my sword and shield the troubles linger stare whom shall I fear I know who goes before me who stands behind the god of Angel armies is always by my side the one who reigns forever he is a friend of mine their God armies is always by mine [Music] my strength is in your name for you alone can see you will daily yours is the victory whom shall I [Music] Shafi I know who goes before me I know who stands me the god of Angel armies is [Music] thank God is always by my Oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] to your it for you do you our face [Music] I know who goes before me I know who stands behind the god of Angel armies is always by my side the one who reigns forever he is a friend of mine the god of Angel is always by my side [Music] who stands me is always by my side [Music] he's always by my side who got a armies is always by my side you are by our side Oh God you will never leave us no you will never leave install a reading from the letter of Saint Paul to the Romans I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared to the glory to be revealed to us [Music] 4.in hope we are saved now hope that sees for itself is not hope for who hopes for what one sees but if we hope for what we do not see we wait with endurance [Music] these words of Saint Paul have been a comfort to me these past few months because I got to be honest there's been a lot of times I have not seen the glory of God in the struggles and the cancellations and all the things that I plan to do but we hope for what we do not see and that is the confidence that we haven't got and whatever sufferings we have they're nothing compared to the glory that God's gonna do when we offer him our sufferings we offer him our fears when we offer him our pain the Lord is gonna reveal himself he's gonna make himself known he's gonna show us what this was all about maybe that's gonna be in hindsight I mean they say hindsight is 20/20 and it's 20/20 I have a feeling like we're gonna see the glory of the Lord in our rear view mirror maybe more than we can see him right now but as we come together this evening we can see a glimpse we can see the light cracking through the darkness we can experience the blessing that God has for us because our God is for us he's not against us he is with us his love has not changed his power has not changed his will has not changed that we would all be his sons and daughters and that we would live in love of him love of each other so let us receive that blessing the Spirit pours upon us right now [Music] [Applause] keep you make his face shine bomb be gracious to you the Lord turn his face toward you [Music] he appears [Music] Lord bless you and keep you making space shine fun be gracious to you the Lord Stern heals they start [Music] singing [Music] ah [Applause] [Music] Lord bless you [Music] Mickey's face should be gracious to you the Lord turn [Music] singham [Music] [Applause] [Music] long [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] heart and a thousand generations and your family and your children and the children and the children is favor be apart and a thousand generations your family and your children and their children the children [Music] and a thousand generations in your family and your children the children [Applause] [Music] and it generation [Music] that you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you're a I said [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] for us Wow it was long this place Oh God [Music] in the morning and useful in the evening he is for you and you're coming this for you and you going he's in your weaving he's for you and rejoice he's for you all around you he's for you he is weird [Music] in the morning in the evening and you're calm and you're going and you evening which I see is for you is for you [Music] and you coming and you go rejoice it is for you [Music] by he's fine yes boy [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen amen to that I just like that I just love the good news of that just the good news of the Lord being for us and we heard today in the readings from the book of wisdom that God gives his children ground for good hope good ground for hope that we can hope in him and I was thinking of when you know when there's something like a parent or somebody tries to comfort another person but I think you see this especially a lot with children is when a child is very agitated many times a parent will have to bend down to their level and they will say look at me look right here look at me right here look here tonight in a special way that is what God is asking us to do because we're going to gaze upon him in the Eucharist adoration tonight and we have a choice in our life when we have distress or when we have despair when you have issues we can turn away from him and become self-reliant or we can turn toward him and allow him to love us in the places were most vulnerable and most dependent I just want to invite you tonight just to gaze upon his face to bring to continue to bring your intention to the Lord just allow that to come to the surface no matter what it is allow that to come to the surface and to let him gaze upon you because tonight he's saying you look at me just look at me and so often we want answers want to know why is this happening to me Lord why why why but he's asking us do you look at me you look at me and I'm making all things new and I'm bringing hope to the deepest places and I have just the profound delight and honor tonight to introduce our keynote speaker and around here we jokingly say it's a man who needs no introduction but we're gonna introduce him anyway but wherever you're tuning in from around the world I just want to welcome our keynote speaker and it's dr. Scott Hahn and perhaps you've had the pleasure of being with him in person hearing some of his lectures or some of his talks he's a prolific author a prolific speaker and has been a professor at the Franciscan University for over 30 years but when I asked him this evening what was most important to him the first thing he said was that I've been married for 40 years my beautiful wife and they have six kids two of their sons are in the seminary one was just ordained to the transitional diaconate which is amazing and they have 19 grandchildren and there's something about a life well-lived a love a love that support out that bring that brings and bears fruit and you see that so profoundly in the life of doctor Han and tonight he's going to talk about some from his new book hope to die and hope to rise kindling Eucharistic amazement he's going to speak to us about gazing upon the face of the Lord and having the Lord transform us so dr. Hahn I am delighted to welcome you here this evening thank you so much for being with us could we please welcome dr. Scott Hahn [Applause] Thank You sister Miriam and thank you to Bob in the band thank you thank you all of you this night of hope is a special time especially for me because I've been here on campus just about every day for the last four months but to have it empty without students is surreal it's almost creepy I realize that in a month we are taking a step of faith and we're going to see the largest incoming freshman class ever I've even been told that I might end up with a mega section for one of my freshman courses in the aerobics room with 70 or 80 students I'm kind of excited to see students back here again to be sure but I'm reminded of another professor who had a mega section he walked in the first day of class and he looked out and realized there are 80 students and so he announced there's not going to be a midterm not gonna be any papers there will be just too much grading it's all gonna come down to a final exam and it will be on the text so that's your grade and so everybody studied that final class they came and the students walked in they sat down and up on the board with the test question summarize the textbook you have 15 minutes when the bell ring is you'll put your pens down hand in your tests and if you don't you'll flunk and everybody groaned and then began to scribble frantically 15 minutes passed but it felt like two minutes the bell rang and everybody moaned and groaned even harder and they came forward and dutifully handed in their papers except for this one fella in the back row he just kept writing for five more minutes I am the professor cleared his throat he kept writing he went on for ten minutes finally after fifteen additional minutes this student came forward and the professor was ready to pounce did you hear the rule yes I did did you hear the bell yes I did well then you flunk and the student looked at the professor and said do you know who I am the professor said no and I don't care and the student lifted up the stack of tests and put his in the middle and said have a nice day that's a joke I don't tell during the school year don't want to give any ideas to the students well I don't have 15 minutes I only have 30 and in 30 years I've never had 30 so I'm hopeful that I can try to keep within the timeframe but I wanted to share a little bit about my textbook here hope to die the Christian meaning of death and the resurrection of the body that came out just in time for Easter but what a strange four months it's been for all of us as I look back on the 40 days of Lent you know what are you gonna give up for Lent this year the sacraments yikes I mean that was the Lent eeeh stovall lens in my lifetime but then Holy Week we're hopeful Easter comes and goes and then the fifty days that lead to Pentecost and for us who are here in the stupid evil diocese we were so blessed to be able to return to Sunday Mass with social distancing of course on the sunday of Pentecost but as I look at this time period I recognise that we have entered into a solidarity in suffering with the human race like never before and we've also entered into that together as Catholics like never before I'd like to just take a few minutes and look with you at some passages in Scripture in order to focus on how it is that we have this hope to die a hope to rise and how we can go about cultivating Eucharistic amazement in particular I'd like to read from John 6 verses 53 and 54 where our Lord said truly truly I say it to you unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day and so there we see the connection between the Eucharist on the one hand as Jesus taught about it one year before his own passion death and resurrection but also the resurrection not only his resurrection but ours as well you think back to what it was like to go through Holy Week I mean even if you were live-streaming masses like we were doing as a family it just wasn't the same and as I was reflecting upon the very first Easter Sunday I was thinking to myself okay if I were Jesus how would I spend my first day back from the dead think about that how many options there'd be for the risen Savior the king of kings to show up first at the palace of Pontius Pilate surprise and maybe stop by Caiaphas and Anna's and then be sure to pay a visit to the Sanhedrin and maybe hover over Jerusalem just to greet the crowds who would be stunned there are lots of options and I suppose that if Jesus had a media relations expert he would have advised him to do one of those but instead what does Jesus choose to do on the first day back from the dead Easter Sunday will we read about it in Luke 24 because here's Clovis and an unnamed companion walking with sadness from Jerusalem all the way to Emmaus I won't read through the whole story they only gave me 30 minutes but you all know it so well an apparent stranger meets up with in the beginning and asks them what they're talking about are you the only one who doesn't know about what Jesus of Nazareth the prophet mighty in word and deed and they go on to recount how it was that he was the one to redeem Israel but instead he was chant it over and delivered to death and then some women from our company came and reported the tomb empty they saw angels and they go on and on at any point our Lord could have said a time out it's time to take a closer look but he let them share about this dismay the shock what they take to be an abject failure on the part of the Messiah until finally they're done and what does he do at that point you'd half expect him to say hey cheer up it's not as bad as you think trust me but instead he gives them a gentle but firm rebuke of foolish men and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken was it not necessary for the Christ should should suffer these things and then enter into his glory and then beginning with Moses and all of the prophets he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself and believe me that wasn't over and done in 30 minutes mile after mile from Jerusalem took to Emmaus for hours Lord with all due respect what are you thinking this is your first day back from the dead and you're going to spend it with what's-his-name Clovis and his companion walking miles spending hours opening up the scriptures and not once do they recognize the voice or the connections between the law and the prophets and the suffering and rising of the Christ until finally they constrain him to join them for a meal there and a mass and at the table what does he do he does four things he takes he blesses he breaks he gives and that's all it takes for the moment of Revelation for the grace of illumination and suddenly what happens they recognized the risen Savior and just as suddenly he vanishes and why hours and hours they didn't know who they were traveling with until finally he took keep left he broke and he gave and of course we recognize those four verbs because just two chapters earlier on Holy Thursday in the Upper Room that what he did but this isn't a flashback for Clopas and his companion because they weren't numbered among the twelve this isn't some kind of deja vu no this is the moment of grace and when he suddenly disappears they turn to each other and finally admit what they've been feeling all along did not our hearts burn within us as he opened up the scriptures and they decide what to do they're gonna walk all the way back and spend the rest of Esther Sunday retracing their steps and going back to Jerusalem to find the Apostles themselves and they do in the upper room and what do they recount our hearts were burning but our eyes were open in the breaking of the bread and you know that phrase the breaking of the bread is practically an idiomatic expression in the New Testament for what we would call the Eucharist the Holy Sacrifice of the mass in acts 2:42 in acts 20 verses 6 & 7 first corinthians and elsewhere and suddenly as they're recounting to Peter and the others and I could just picture Peter sitting there listening okay wait a second you're telling us that Jesus is risen from the dead and he's back and he spent the entire day practically with what's your name again Clopas uh-huh and your friend we were here the whole time I mean I'm Peter remember the Prince of the Apostles you know I could see Clopas saying well maybe if he hadn't denied him three times he would have appeared to you well if he had Clopas it wouldn't have taken us hours to recognize him it's the perfect opportunity for a confrontation between the clergy the apostles and the laity represented by Clovis and his friend but that's not what happens no accusations no alienation no Clopas just bears faithful witness to what he's just experienced by the way of grace our hearts were burning our eyes were open and suddenly who should appear but the Lord himself and what does Jesus do on the rest of Easter Sunday he spends the rest of that late afternoon and early evening opening up the scriptures once again on behalf of Peter and the other Parcells beginning with Moses in the law and the writings and the Psalms Wow I would propose to you that Jesus probably prioritizes the importance of knowing and studying Sacred Scripture more than many of us rewind the tape go back to the beginning of that trip seriously Jesus you're going to spend the majority of the time on Easter Sunday going through the law and the prophets to show the fulfillment what they mistook for an abject failure you're gonna show them in fact it is the fulfillment of God's promise and plan and then you're gonna do it again that evening with the apostles I'll say it again I would say that Jesus prioritizes the importance of knowing Sacred Scripture the law and the prophets more than many people but at the same time it wasn't an intellectual thing it was the gift of faith the power of grace the Holy Spirit who caused them to recognize at long last Jesus in the breaking of the bread so it is a Eucharistic revelation where Jesus reveals himself no wonder he suddenly vanished he wasn't playing now you see me he wasn't playing hard to get but once he gradually brought their faith to the point where they could recognize the risen saviors body blood soul and divinity and the breaking of the Eucharistic bread his physical presence was no longer needed if anything it could become an impediment and so I would propose that what we need to do is to spend time with our Lord in Sacred Scripture and even more spend time with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament cultivating what Pope Saint John Paul the second called Eucharistic amazement that was in his very last encyclical the Church of the Eucharist at clacey a day eucharistia and so for the next 40 days he spends these times with the Apostles until ascension Thursday and what does he say wait wait until you receive the promise of the Father wait until the Holy Spirit comes down upon you because only then will you be my witnesses huh Peter must have been thinking we already are your witnesses what more remains to be seen we've seen it all we can testify we can bear witness why wait and notice he didn't say wait 9 days he just said wait like we've been waiting and waiting in our upper room and then of course the Holy Spirit fell at the feast of Pentecost and you might know the background because of course it was a Jewish feast in the Old Testament before it became the Christian feast that we know what to Orthodox Jews commemorate with Pentecost the giving of the law and Mount Sinai the law of the Covenant and what accompany the giving of the law well 3,000 people perished at the edge of the swords of the Levites because they succumbed to the idolatry the Golden Calf what happens in the first Pentecost of the New Testament 3,000 people perish at the edge of the sword of the Spirit through the preaching of st. Peter and they rise again in the waters of baptism what a coincidence no when you get the commandments but not the power of the Holy Spirit you try and then you fail but when you get the new law the grace of the Holy Spirit then you can keep it then you can bear witness and so Peter gets up and proclaims a sermon that I suspect he wouldn't have given apart from the Spirit that was given to him at Pentecost because what does he do the first five verses of Peters sermon he spends time in the law and the prophets especially Joel chapter 2 and then curiously he summarizes Jesus entire public ministry in one verse acts 2:22 and then he summarizes Holy Week his arrest his trial and execution in one verse acts 2:23 and then beginning in act 2:24 through the power of the Spirit he begins to testify to the resurrection as the fulfillment of the law and all the profits and he goes on and on and on for 12 versus wait a minute back up one verse on the public ministry one verse in his trial and execution and over a dozen verses on the resurrection that's the result of the Holy Spirit showing us that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just a historical event with an empty tomb and eyewitnesses it isn't just a miracle the miracle of miracles it's certainly that it's also more than the fulfillment of prophecy what is the resurrection of Jesus it is the power of the Holy Spirit's divin izing his humanity it's the power of the Holy Spirit making Jesus sacred humanity not just resuscitated it's not just the vindication of his innocence it's not just the fulfillment of prophecy the Holy Spirit transformed Jesus resurrected body to make it communicable to make it edible because that's who is really present in the Holy Eucharist it's the same body that was in the Upper Room on Holy Thursday it's the same body that was nailed with a cross on Good Friday it's the same body that was buried in the tomb on Holy Saturday but what we profess in the real presence of Jesus Christ can only be understood by the power of the Holy Spirit because his sacred humanity has been divinized by the power of the Holy Spirit and it's not just divinized it's divin izing us so that when we receive Christ's body blood soul and divinity it is resurrected it is ascended it is enthroned it is glorified so this is no ordinary meal you know when you eat a pizza or a hamburger or a salad one day later all of that is now part of your body because you've assimilated it to your body but when you receive Christ's resurrected body blood soul and divinity which is ascended which is divinized this is no ordinary meir meal the Catechism echoing San Agustin says no you don't assimilate it to your body his glorified and immortal body assimilates our mortal flesh to his body thereby setting into motion something more than transubstantiation he is setting in the motion a chain reaction that is going to bring about the fulfillment of what he pledged one year earlier he eats my flesh and drink my blood I will raise him up on the last day because the Eucharist is the resurrected body of Christ but the Eucharist also will be the instrument by which he resurrects our bodies and makes our mortal flesh like his in the end this is who we are as Catholics this is what we do in the mass and this is why we need the power of the Holy Spirit because this isn't just sound doctrine this isn't religious rhetoric this isn't make-believe this is truthful but it's powerful it's beautiful and it makes us hopeful hope is what we're here tonight to renew and cultivate and as you know perhaps hope is described by the Catechism as a desire for a future good that is difficult but possible now you can desire all kinds of future goods you can desire to win the lottery you can desire to get a scholarship although if you're an incoming freshman you don't need one tuitions free this fall glory to God and thanks be to father David and the board you could hope for you know all kinds of things you can hope for a good job you can hope for a spouse you can hope for a vaccine or a cure to Kovan and of course we all do but what makes Hope one of the three theological virtues is that what we hope for is not natural but supernatural it's not human but divine it's not earthly but heavenly and I'm convinced that this is what makes hope as a theological virtue somewhat underrated somewhat neglected of the three virtues faith hope and love I would say this is the Cinderella of the three and why because not only do we need it more than ever but we don't understand just how much we need it and how much God provides it to us in the Eucharist which is the resurrection not just in the past then and there of him but for us in the present and also ultimately in the future and so this is not Plan B this is what God said an emotion when he created the world we don't usually think that way we usually think that the Eucharist was instituted in the context of a farewell meal because the crowds had turned against him and so this is my token for all of you in remembrance of me not even close you go back to the beginning and you can see what God's intention was in Genesis 1 and 2 to make man male and female with bodies and not just souls bodies that were good bodies that were not just boxes or disposable cartons that when emptied of their contents the disembodied soul is finally free know the body and the soul of the male and the female were good and so in Genesis 2 in the span of just 10 verses we read about this beginning in verse 7 how God takes from the dust of the ground the stuff from which the body is made then he breathes into Adams nostrils the breath of life and that's how he becomes a living soul he's not just breathing air or oxygen like the animals around him he's breathing the breath of God he's breathing the Spirit of God he's got the life of God it's not just human and natural it's divine and supernatural why is that in so important because just 10 verses later when God invites the man our first Father to partake of all of the trees and all of the fruit except for one he gives him that threat the day you eat the forbidden fruit you will surely die and why is that significant because he didn't need to be so specific he could have said that day you eat of it you'll deserve to die you'll be sentenced to die you'll begin the process of dying which is painful and slow and arduous he said the day you eat of it you'll surely die you turn the page and they eat and they both drop dead right wrong wait a minute rewind the tape the Lord God said you'll die the serpent said you won't and when they ate they didn't so was the Lord just issuing an idle threat no there's life that's natural and human and then there's the life of the breath of God's Spirit that is divine and supernatural what does it take to lose natural life a bullet to the brain perhaps a snake bite what does it take to lose divine life there is only one way to give consent to mortal sin and guess what our first parents did the committed mortal sin first John 5:17 the sin unto death the Greek word fauna toss in first John 5:17 is the exact same word in the Septuagint in Genesis 2:17 our first parents committed spiritual suicide they lost divine life which isn't less of a death but far more and this is why as Catholics we believe that what they transmit to us to all of their progeny is natural life that's human utterly devoid of divine life that is supernatural when I was a Protestant I believed that infants were born totally depraved and guilty the Catholic tradition is much closer to Scripture it mirrors it echoes it we're not born depraved we were born deprived deprived of divine life were born spiritually dead but we don't know it and so this is why even if your parents happen to be canonized Abba Saints like Saint irresolute and what did they still have to do when she was born Baptizer and what is the effect of baptism resurrection Paul discusses original sin in Romans 5:12 to 21 and as soon as he's done he talks about baptism not as cleansing not simply as a rebirth but is nothing less than a resurrection because divine life comes back to the newly baptized whether that's an infant or an adult you are resurrected through the waters of baptism not met for eclis you were resurrected to divine life more than Lazarus was resurrected after four days what all he got back was his physical life that's natural and bodily what we get in the waters of baptism is supernatural divine eternal life that's not less of a resurrection but far more we are united to the resin body of Jesus through baptism we feast upon the body of Christ in the Holy Eucharist we need the holy spirit given at Pentecost to understand that this wasn't Plan B this was plan a God gave us his breath God gave us his spirit and we forfeited it and every time we commit mortal sin we recapitulate we repeat our first parents failure by preferring the finite and the human to the infinite and the divine very stupid self-destructive but very common there's life and then there's life and all of life is sacred but this life that is ours as humans is so valuable but the life that we have through the waters of baptism the life that we have through the Holy Spirit the life that we feed upon in the resurrected Jesus is not less valuable but even more so as the world faces a pandemic Catholics have an opportunity to show that yes approaching death is dreadful but there's a death that is finite and a death that is infinite and so we have an opportunity here not only to relearn the basics but also to teach it to the world in this new evangelization in my book I quote st. Julien of Toledo from the sixth century in Spain he wrote as a bishop everyone fears the death of the flesh however few fear the death of the soul destined to die humanity struggles to avoid dying and yet destined to eternal life we do not labor to avoid sinning when we struggle to avoid death we labor in vain in fact the most we obtain is that death is delayed but not avoided if only we refrain from sinning our toil would cease and we should live forever if only we could incite people including ourselves to be lovers of eternal life even more than we love the life that passes away but this death that we fear so much despite all our resistance will yet be ours to possess and so the mystery of faith shows us the life of God and the Spirit of God shows us that this is what we profess in the real presence that it's not just a resuscitated corpse it is his divinized humanity given to us in order to prepare us to be resurrected and in my book hope to die the Christian meaning of death in the resurrection of the body I go into an explanation of his resurrected body and ours and the characteristic features that we get our bodies back not just a look-alike jesus says I make all things new not I make new things he's going to resurrect he's going to renew our bodies and so Aquinas teaches if you're a male here you'll be a male there you'll get your body back not like it was when you were 90 at death you'll get your body back at its prime and likewise you'll get your body back in its integrity you'll get your body back with impassibility you won't be able to suffer or die anymore it will be clear it will be agile the weakest saint in heaven will be stronger than the greatest athlete our gymnast ever to live on earth and history and we'll be able to have clarity so that we'll see each other you'll meet a total stranger in heaven with resurrected bodies you'll know that person in an instant better than you knew your best friend after you grew up together and again this isn't exaggerated this is what it means to say I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting it's not just duration it is the greatness of Jesus sharing his own life with us through the power of the Spirit and so we'll be able to enter into this family communion this flesh-and-blood bond and after about a million years when we all have a chance to share our stories we'll look at our watches and realize that the first minute of eternity has barely passed and we'll realize too that eternal life is not just the beatific vision which is a divine staring contest where we all just kind of look at God and as awesome it is it's going to be to know God as God knows God we're going to be looking upon God the Father who's going to take delight in having his sons and daughters discover each other as brothers and sisters the greatest reunion the happiest family vacation would be like a garbage dump compared to the first billion years of heaven this is who we are this is what we were made for and though we sometimes wonder why does God allow all this sickness all this suffering all this evil we take a look at the cross and what do we see the greatest evil ever perpetrated the greatest suffering ever endured and then the greatest gift that God has ever given the salvation of the human race came through the the torture and the execution of his son if God can do that with the single greatest evil in all of human history to bring about the single greatest gift of the salvation of the human race then even if we can't answer the question why does he allow kovat why does he allow suffering we know this that it more than one might you know when life gives you lemons make lemonade know when we through our worst at God in His mercy he gave us his best his mercy while these executioner's were torturing and tormenting him he was redeeming them and our lady was as well and this is the one we greet when we enter Christ the king in the Tabernacle upon the altar on our tongues in our bodies and our souls as Catholics we are so accustomed - consecration - transubstantiation - priestly ordination - apostolic succession step back and look at it more closely through the eyes of unbelievers what is it we profess you know I'll be honest I've got vested interests here as sister Miriam said we've got six kids and 19 grandkids and two of her sons are studying for the priesthood for the diocese a Steubenville one of them is here tonight Deacon Jeremiah was just ordained at a transitional D a current about six weeks ago and next year Lord willing on May 21st he's going to receive the laying on of hands in the power of the Holy Spirit so this son of ours this mortal man is going to be empowered to do what to transform earthly matter like bread and wine into the body blood soul and divinity of the second person of the Trinity you've got to be kidding just what do you think a priest is well it's through the bishop well what do you think a bishop is well as through apostolic succession well who do you think the Apostles were what Jesus made them through the power of the Holy Spirit and that's why we should always see how truly fantastic all of this is there's no way it can be true unless it is there's more to this life than this life the fact is the Eucharist is far more unbelievable than we let ourselves believe it's amazing how uneme 'zed we are well this is just a spicy hot rhetoric from some overzealous Protestant convert even after 35 years no it's not when you get to heaven and look back on this Sunday evening you realize just how far my words fell short they fell flat on their face they pale in comparison to the truth the power the beauty these aren't just the 12 articles of the Apostles Creed these are twelve precious gems the Eucharistic Lord is more than the Hope Diamond we have got to reevaluate we've got the trans value the finite in the light of the infinite we've also got to recognize that we are called to the New Evangelization Jesus suffered and died just for Catholics no for all men and women black and white first world third world and everything in between and I dare say he sees more than we do there are many people out there who are dead but don't know it spiritual zombies if you will if you don't mind I wanted to take a moment and remind you of a movie that's been out about 20 years The Sixth Sense how many of you have seen Bruce Willis is the sixth sense spoiler alert I'm gonna ruin it if you haven't it's been out 21 years it got six Academy Award nominations so it's your fault this child psychologist played by Bruce Willis Malcolm is trying to help this little boy named Cole he's got a secret he won't even tell his mother until finally he comes clean and tells Malcolm I see dead people in your dreams no while you're awake yeah in graves and coffins no walking around like regular people they don't see each other then he adds the only see what they want to see they don't know they're dead how often do you see them all the time they're everywhere I think that little boy called is like a Christ figure because Jesus would whisper into our ears I see dead people they don't know they're dead they only see what they want to see on the internet TV how often you see them all the time they're everywhere and I bled and died for them and I want to invite them to the Eucharistic feast to share in the flesh and blood of the family of God and then he'd whisper this is not make-believe this is not religious rhetoric this is not just sound doctrine this is the reality that will abide long after Christ the King Chapel and livestreaming is dust and this is who we are as Catholics and this is why I think we need to cultivate Eucharistic amazement people a year ago were saying it's shocking that 70% of American Catholics don't believe in the real presence shocking indeed you know it's even more shocking that 30% do you all believe that that little wafer becomes the body blood soul and divinity of the second person of the eternal Trinity the Son of God made flesh the son of Mary in a manger on a cross in a tomb raised and the power of the Spirit he becomes the Holy Eucharist oh yeah this is why we're here this is why it's a night of hope this is why we have hoped to die and hope to rise and this is why Eucharistic amazement is so reasonable and I believe that Christ wants to give it to us even more than we want him to in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen Almighty God our Father in Heaven we ask you now to help us to grow in the power of the Holy Spirit to gain a spiritual vision that we might behold the risen and ascended Savior the king of kings and the Lord of lords in the sacred host that this is your work this is not Plan B this is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets the plan that you have that goes all the way back to creation and we are grateful and we are proud and we ask you therefore not only for you to increase our faith but also our hope and hear us as we pray our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but the poorest from evil oh man hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us amen in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen thank you well good evening this is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it by a show of hands both those of us here in the Christ the King Chapel as well as those who are joining us via livestream so I really want you to raise your hand even if you're watching from home raise your hand if you have the slightest concern about the current state of our culture okay I think that's almost unanimous that was kind of a loaded question and you're not alone because most people feel the exact same way the overwhelming majority of people have concern about the state of our culture and you don't have to look very far to find out why our culture is becoming increasingly hostile to all that is good and virtuous and holy we see divisiveness and toxicity more than we've seen in our lifetimes the church is under attack from all sides we see an increase in immorality we see a decrease in religious beliefs and practices we see the family the cornerstone of society breaking apart and the sacrament of matrimony falling apart at the seams we see a devaluing of human life these factors that throughout history have led to the demise of Nations and entire civilizations are prevalent in our culture right now and it can lead us to ask what kind of culture are we going to hand on to our children to our grandchildren where is the hope well the good news is that hope has a name and it is a name above all names that hope named Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior we have a Heavenly Father who loved each of us so much that he sent his son to be here on earth with us to go to the cross and die carrying our sins to rise again so that if we believed in him we could have eternal life the solution to what ails our culture is our hope is Jesus Christ and one of the best vehicles to bring that hope of Christ to the entire world is Franciscan University and Steubenville conferences my name is David B right and I got to know many of you in my previous role as the founder and the former CEO of a ministry called 40 days for life and during my season of decade of leading that ministry I watched as God breathed life into that ministry in 675 cities mobilizing three-quarters of a million people to save 13 thousand lives from abortion and during that journey watching God work I got to see what happens with people of faith respond to the call to bring the good news of Christ to some of the darkest places in our world since stepping away from 40 days today I advise high-impact nonprofit organizations I do a lot of work mentoring young ministry leaders my wife and I are involved in marriage ministry and I also help a lot of nonprofits and ministries run high-impact online events but in the midst of all of my journeys and all of my experiences one of my greatest blessings is the experience in the relationship I've had with Franciscan University and with the Steubenville conferences I hadn't I grew up in Pittsburgh not far from where we are here tonight in Steubenville Ohio but yet I'd never heard of Franciscan University until I moved to Texas and while I was in Texas a Pentecostal friend came down to my house and he shocked my wife and I with the news that he was coming into the Catholic Church I said what how and he handed me a cassette tape by a Franciscan University professor maybe you've heard of him by the name of dr. Scott Hahn does that name sound a little bit familiar so that night I listened to the cassette tape and it began to plant seeds that wouldn't bear fruit for many many years because I was raised a Protestant I was raised in Presbyterian my wife was a lifelong Catholic but it began to plant seeds a priest friend of mine told me that he hired for staff at his parish graduates from Franciscan University because they were the best formed young leaders he knew in the United States and then as I started to travel in my pro-life work and I met Franciscan University students and graduates and those who've been blessed by attending Steubenville conferences both the youth and adult conferences I saw a zeal I saw a fire for the faith I saw people who are committed to bringing the hope of Jesus Christ to the whole world and I said there's something special about this place in Steubenville Ohio and so my first experience here on campus was in 2012 when I was invited to come in and meet with the pro-life Club on campus and while I was here we met with the leaders they said we'd like you to go with us an hour over to Pittsburgh on Saturday morning because we're gonna go pray inside walk Council in East Liberty outside of the abortion Center how many college students do that on a Saturday morning and so we went that morning and as they prayed as they sidewalk counseled our family was blessed to watch a mother stop and change her mind and choose life for her child because of those students faithfulness we came back to campus and that night right here in the Christ the King Chapel we had a pro-life rally celebrating with God accomplished that day and just thanking him for what he had done but I was realizing there's something special here then in 2014 my wife was a chaperone with our daughter Claire who had entered high school and they came to a Steubenville Youth Conference here on the Franciscan University campus and while there they both were lit on fire for their faith like I'd never seen before and they said you have to come back with us next year and so the next year I came with them and when I was here I experienced hundreds and hundreds of students discovering the hope of Jesus Christ and I will never forget being on my knees in the Fieldhouse here on the Franciscan University campus I was not even Catholic and his father Dave was processing around with the monstrance I had a profound personal encounter with Jesus Christ and for the first time realized that he was really present in the Eucharist it wasn't just a symbol that was Jesus Christ present with us I kept coming back for five Steubenville conferences year after year growing myself and my faith watching my children grow in their faith and at the end of each of those youth conferences they invited those youth who were open to discerning religious vocation to come forward in year after year my daughter and my son went for it at the end and watching them say I'm gonna answer God's call whatever that looks like it moved me to my core and I continued to hunger so I entered into RCIA and I was thankful because that professor from Franciscan University was willing to answer my questions on phone calls dr. Scott Hahn and during my RCIA process when I went to my first confession one of his students father met Kelly an amazing graduate of Franciscan University heard my first confession and when I was received into church at the 2018 Easter Vigil the blessings were beyond description fast forward to today and our family is united in our faith today those two children who went up at the end of each Steubenville conference my son just graduated high school and he's about to go off to college at George Mason University because he wants to study global affairs because he loves the Lord with all his heart and he wants to bring the good news of Jesus to everybody around the world and he continues to have an openness if the Lord were to call him into a religious life and my daughter Claire after going to the University of Virginia she answered the call those seeds that were planted here at Franciscan University through a Steubenville campus Steubenville conference and today she is an Asheville Dominican sister and on August 8th my wife and I was 28th wedding anniversary st. Dominic's feast day we didn't even know at the time when we got married Claire will receive her new name and her habit God has blessed me so much and my family so much through Franciscan University and through Steubenville conferences and to whom much is given much is required and so if you are concerned about the state of our culture so if you really are worried about what kind of culture we're going to hand on to future generations tonight I'm going to invite you wherever you are to be a part and become a part of the Franciscan University family to become a part of the Steubenville conference family and to find ways that not only can you experience the hope during this night of hope but then ask God how can you use me to bring that hope that good news the answer to all our cultural woes to the rest of the world one way you can do that on the page where you're watching this live stream there's a button that says give now and throughout the evening this is a spiritual event for you to grow closer to a reward for you to experience the hope but if you feel led to say how can I share that hope with others during this broadcast click that button give now and respond as the Lord invites you you and I have an opportunity and I believe in obligation we have been blessed and throughout this night of hope we will continue to experience blessings and to whom much is given much is required as you grow in your hope ask the Lord to show you how you can help bring that hope to the rest of the world that is in so desperate need of it in this time amen can we thank both David and dr. Hahn for their presentations this evening there's a lot there's a lot stirring I think between David between your impassioned witness and the excellent teaching of dr. Hahn the only phrase that comes to me was we're not our hearts burning we're not our hearts burning and so I don't know for you what's stirring in your heart right now whether it's it's dr. Hansen just impassioned to talk about the resurrection and the power of Christ the power of Christ assimilating us into himself that he makes all things new but he's taken the parts of us that are dead and he's bringing them back to life not resuscitating but he's making them new or whether it's that reality of encountering Christ and that living witness that you and I are all called to be this living witness what is it in your life and I just I love the road to Emmaus it's one of my favorite stories and I spend a lot of time at the road to Emmaus I have to tell you and just the beautiful reality of the Easter Vigil Mass you know this beautiful glorious Mass which is the first proclamation of the resurrection of Christ and for many Catholics I've never been to that mass but if you've never been there's and this year it was maybe different because you got to watch it on the live stream but one of my favorite parts is the fire outside they're just so many sensory realities to the Easter Vigil Mass it's dark it's you know cold outside it's usually wherever you are and you're standing outside and you're waiting for this fire this new fire to begin a new life to begin it's very beautiful because as we talk about the resurrection and we talk about the light of Christ and we talk about the beauty of who prices raise coming into our stories he's bringing us to life this beautiful reality of the priest taking the Paschal candle the Easter candle and what happens is he takes a stylist and he cuts across into the candle and then he cuts the Greek letters Alpha and Omega and then he cuts the number of the year whatever year it is he cuts it into the candle as well and as he's doing that sometimes you can't hear him but what he's saying is this is he's taking and he's cutting it into the wax of the candle he's saying this is Christ yesterday and today the beginning and the end the Alpha and the Omega all time belongs to him and all the ages to him be glory and power through every age and forever and as he takes five grains of incense and he places them in the cross of the candle he says by his holy and glorious wounds may Christ the Lord gardez and protect us you see this reality that's us Christ bringing us into himself and I think the most beautiful thing is he takes that candle and he lights that Paschal candle the light of our resurrection the light of our baptism the light of this transformation and he takes that kennel and he places it into the new fire for the very first time he prays may the light of Christ rising and glory dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds may the light of Christ rising and glory dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds and that's just not a proclamation for 2000 years ago that is a proclamation for you and I know because when we talk about the areas of our life that have turned away from Christ or there are not in amazement with Christ you know what honestly it has to do as a lot of sin in our life it has to do with areas of despair it has to do with areas of hopelessness it has to do with the areas of our life that haven't had an encounter yet with the Lord and many times those those parts of our lives give birth to despair into hopelessness and a cold-heartedness and we become like dr. Scott Scott and said so aptly you know that we're picking like zombies like The Walking Dead and but the beautiful thing about Christ is because he is sovereign ended because he is Lord of all time the beginning on the end that means he is present now he's present now and every part of our story so tonight as we know we are going to encounter the Living Lord Jesus who is going to gaze upon us and who desires to come close to us in every part of our life and I just want to invite you just into a just a brief meditation if we could before we welcome the Lord so just want to invite you now if you would just to close your eyes just for a second and I just want to just invite you just to imagine yourself walking on the road to emmaus just walking and as you do so I just want to invite you just to ask the Lord what is the one place tonight that he wishes to encounter just to let that surface whatever it is the Lord tonight what is the one place you want to encounter and as you walk along the road by yourself and ponder that just notice what that's like in your heart it might be a place of shame or fear or hopelessness it's okay whatever it is just notice that and as you walk along you can hear somebody walking behind you and as you walk farther along you realize the person that has walked alongside of you as Christ himself I'm just gonna let you walk with him just for a little bit and as you walk with him just ponder what's going on in your heart this one area of your life and what does it like to walk with him in this place whatever it is and if you're willing maybe this is the first time you've ever done this but if you're willing would you be willing to just to finally share with Christ and all honesty this part of your life as part of your heart just tell them everything about it and it might seem embarrassing to you it's okay he's not embarrassed and he's not ashamed of you he loves you and he's in no hurry so kind and as you share you notice that he begins to slow his pace down a little bit and you match it and then he stops then he turns to you and Jesus would like to speak to you tonight about that place and if you'd be willing tonight would you turn to him and just don't look at him and if you notice as you look at him his face is one of them immense kindness his tender strength for you his love for you in this place and tonight as we move into Eucharistic Adoration would you be willing to allow him to speak to you about this allow him to speak to the deepest places and to bring you into oneness with him and all the way as he wishes to do so so Jesus we open our hearts to you tonight we just ask that you would speak to us and in a way we've never heard you before give us the courage to gaze upon you to be amazed by your face and we give you full permission tonight to speak to this place in our heart and to bring us to new life I just like to invite you know those who are here present to please kneel as we welcome the Lord Oh salut TARDIS hostia [Music] wait Shelley pond resource tea or they'll our plane won't or Steely da robo fair our silly you who neatly no puedo me no see it's a Peter not Laurie we've each um she knitted me no no bees donating my tree [Music] [Music] praise to the Lord the Almighty the king of creation o my soul praise him for he is your health and salvation come on boo here now - is all - Trani joining with adoration [Music] praise to the Lord who shall prosper [Music] surely his goodness [Music] father what we can do with this love will be friend [Music] praise Lord are you [Music] [Applause] oh you people strong is his love for us he is faithful [Music] nation you people strong is for us it's been forever raise do in a certain [Music] and breath come now praises be [Music] people again now as we worship me there is people again now as we worship [Music] welcome let us adore him o come let us adore Oh yeah [Music] Lord Jesus we are in your presence and you are present to us while there have been many difficult things over the last several months one of the things that I've reflected on and experienced many times is Jesus meeting me where I was so much of our faith is going to church or going to Bible study or going to adoration and for the last many months people weren't able to go when Jesus came to us it is the mystery the beauty the glory the majesty of the Incarnation that God comes to us he comes searching for us he comes looking for us and he doesn't give up till he finds us I think that's the invitation he wants to present to us tonight is is that yes well some of us are here present with Jesus and the Blessed Sacrament Jesus wants to go to you wherever you are so whatever it means for you to just for a moment to reflect on what's been said this evening and to just stop and invite Jesus to come to you place a challenge for Jesus to come to you God is bigger than we could possibly imagine and the same God who dwells here desires to pour out his Holy Spirit upon you now where you are come Lord Jesus drama close to you never let me go lay it all down again here you say that I am my friend you are my desire no one else will do nothing else could take your place feel the warmth of your [Music] help me find a way bring me back to [Music] you're all you're you're helping oh you [Music] to hear you say that [Music] Oh [Music] nothing else could take [Music] to feel the warmth of your [Music] we fight away bring me back [Music] [Applause] you're [Music] [Music] help me know you [Music] [Music] [Applause] help me [Music] for the Lord God Almighty [Music] so the Lord got on my [Music] ah ah [Music] to what is the where there is the name [Applause] are you [Music] where there is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] for the [Music] for the Lord [Music] Oh [Music] yeah [Applause] were they [Applause] where there is Oh I [Music] [Applause] where they we're there [Music] are you guys my what is the what is the worthy worthy is the worthy is the lamb you are worthy Lord [Music] holy are you God [Music] in this night of hope we come before the Lord and we lay before him everything we hoped in that wasn't him that hope is hope when it's placed in Jesus and his sister said at the beginning it's just not wishful thinking it's not just magical thinking it's not wants and desires but it's something more than that and sometimes we place our hope in things other than him dr. Hahn was talking about the spirit and how the spirit operates and works and the transformation and Jesus I pray your spirit upon all those gathered and that you would help us to see the things that we place our hope in success relationships jobs but we move all those things to the side we place you in the center of our life and we place our hope in you you alone can satisfy our longing of our heart come Jesus allow us to hope in you come hardships I just invite you for a moment just to place before the Lord those things that vie for your attention and bye for your hope [Music] holy holy is he sing a new song sit sir [Music] was slain holy holy [Music] Oh [Music] for creationist [Music] king of kings [Music] of living [Music] let's sing it on a straight dead [Music] to you [Applause] Oh to come [Music] creationists the king of cakes [Music] we [Music] we're sorry [Music] king of game you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] awestruck wonder at the mention of you only Jesus your name is Bauer [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] praise to the king of kings you are my everything [Music] Hey oh Jesus [Music] [Music] aha Jesus in this holy sacrament he prays the door in love here [Music] of Jesus in this holy sacrament [Music] raised adored and loved Oh I believe [Music] I doh [Music] a whole and I [Music] I doh [Music] I hope and I love [Music] a [Music] in this one [Music] the Jordan Oh [Music] and this all aside [Music] I [Music] and [Music] I [Music] [Music] ah and made the Jesus in this holy sacrament he praised the Jordan love [Music] the Jesus in this holy sacrament he praised the Lord in love through all [Music] Jesus we take this opportunity to give our hearts to you to once again once again choose you is our Savior our hope our shield our defender our comforter the opportunity to give ourselves to the Lord is is a great grace and obviously as Catholics we have the opportunity to do that every time we come to mass we say yes to Jesus again we put him in the center of our life again but I'd like to take this evening and just the opportunity to do that and it's just really simple it's just it's just a chance for us to say yes to Jesus yes we want you to rule over our life yes we want you to reign yes we accept your mercy yes we accept that we are flawed and broken and we sin but you are greater than that so just invite everyone if you would desire to just to repeat after me once again a prayer of giving ourselves and our hearts and our life to Jesus those who are with me those who are at home it may seem awkward being at home just talking and repeating after me but I just believe that God can honor that and His Spirit can bless that so if it's a prayer that you want to make I just invite you to repeat after me Lord Jesus this evening I come before you and I ask your spirit to rest on me Jesus I recognize that I have sinned and I have fallen short of your glory but by the power of your death and resurrection you have healed me you have restored me you have brought me back to life and once again Jesus I place you in the center of my life and make you my Lord and Savior I surrender my will my life my plans my dreams my hopes I surrender all to you do with me as you please thank you Jesus just take a moment let the Lord speak to that thank you Jesus holy [Music] so he says come with your light your healing I can't fit that when he find my ribs without you I fall apart you're the one got my Lord I need you [Music] [Applause] Wow difference my righteousness soca [Music] sin runs deep your grace is more grace is found where you are where you are Lord I am free tries to where you are lord I am free holiness Christ [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] my Oh God teach my songs your eyes to you when temptation comes my way when I cannot stand up [Applause] Jesus you're my hope and stick when I cannot stand up [Music] Jesus you're my home [Music] [Applause] Oh [Music] but I need you Oh you every right my defense my righteousness oh god I need [Music] if this time the church offers us a special blessing and benediction and I just pray for those of you who are viewing from home that you would encounter and experience a God who is present to you no matter where you are and those who are able to gather with us here in Christ King this evening just to be able to encounter and experience the blessing of the Lord [Music] Antigone dormant novo jaded we do [Music] Jenny told AJ I said you will not see sana sana fear to school a CDC [Music] [Music] [Music] you have given them bread from heaven [Music] let us pray O God who in this wonderful sacrament have left us a memorial of your passion grant us we pray so to revere the sacred mysteries of your body and blood that we may always experience in our lives the fruits of your redemption you who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit one God for ever and ever [Music] in the divine praises repeat after me blessed be God blessed be his holy name blessed be Jesus Christ true God and true man blessed be the name of Jesus and blessed be its most Sacred Heart blessed be his most precious blood blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar blessed be the Holy Spirit the Paraclete blessed be the Great Mother of God Mary most holy blessed be your holy and Immaculate Conception blessed be your glorious assumption blessed be the name of Mary virgin and mother [Music] blessed be st. Joseph her most chaste bowels blessed be God in His angels and in his Saints [Music] [Music] Oh God we pray Stine Lord of all we bow before thee [Music] I said to claim all in heaven above adore thee infinite fly vast domain [Music] fasting is my ring infinite thy past domain last [Music] - in angel pliers above are easy [Music] and ruffian [Music] and she sing chorus breezy fear the heavens with sweet heart [Music] sweetheart amen you notice I have you just be seated the evening is not over yet I'm just gonna have you take a deep breath we just take a deep breath just all the way and smell the incense and all the way out and I just want you to just for one second just to be very attentive to what's happening right here in your heart what's happening right here just to notice that just whatever the Lord said to you this evening just to let that come to pass let it come to birth in your life in your heart the Lord is doing beautiful things in you and whatever is happening right now in your life is not the end of the story he's making all things new and I just want to invite you just a journal about that tonight or tell somebody about it just to make that grace tangible what the Lord is doing in your life we're going to move into a time now of question and answer a little Q&A session which we're gonna have some live questions from our audience and to facilitate our evening I'm going to invite Bob Rice our worship leader up to be our facilitator could you please welcome Bob rice [Applause] thank you please don't rush the stage at any point during this QA it is really exciting to have an opportunity particularly for our live audience and our online audience to maybe ask some questions of our wonderful presenters I'm gonna bring back up sister Miriam who's going to be part of the panel let's give it up for sister Miriam you did a great job hosting tonight a good friend and colleague dr. Scott Hahn and he hasn't actually been introduced so I'm happy to introduce our president I here at Franciscan University father Dave Pavano was going up for father Dave [Applause] I get a chair I couldn't make a comment about this but I won't but hopefully people will make comments online yeah this is when you start seeing the numbers just drop you know it's like wow I thought we had 20,000 others five okay anyway just a just an opportunity for you all maybe to give some words of hope and answer some specific questions that people online have been feeling you know during this very difficult time why don't we just start with this first question online can you provide an example of when God carried you through a challenging time in your life that's just for everybody maybe just speak some hope into difficult times as many people are having challenging times well I think you know lately has been a challenging time but a part of my story from when I was very young as I'm actually recovering addict and so I've had an addiction for a very long time and the facing that addiction and going to the roots of that addiction was one of the most challenging times of my life of understanding why I did what I did and just having some deep areas of trauma in my life so when I talk about the Lord coming into our deepest places of fear and of shame I really mean it because I've really lived it and I still live it out now still inviting the Lord to the deepest places of my life so being in recovery and being sober for so many years now it's been such a great grace that I I'm so grateful for every single day but I've seen the Lord tangibly in my life work a miracle of sobriety of restoration of healing and I see it in the lives of so many people that I walk with and walk in recovery with - so I've lived it and I've seen it I still live it out so amen thank you sister [Applause] I'm arm-wrestle yes right actually yeah it's kind of front and center in my own life some of you know my brother was just my older brother was just diagnosed with cancer and I remember it was about two weeks ago I go into the chapel having just got off the phone with him and him sharing with me and just the emotion that there was with that and that thing that stuff happens to somebody else right some other family but not my family and and I just remember I went into the chapel at the friary here and honestly just cried for a while and tried to reconcile what I just heard and literally in a phone call my life and his life and my family's life is just kind of been turned upside down and yet I was praying in that and as the Lord is and it's not always like this but the Lord was just really close to me and in intimate to me and and I just sensed the Lord saying to me you're not gonna be crushed you know this isn't gonna crush you I'm present in this I'm gonna take care of your brother you know his family my mom and my dad so it was just me being able to just be quiet and still with the Lord for a few minutes and him reminded me that he is a god who's faithful so yeah but we're just starting that actually yeah and father Dave maybe could you speak a little bit more about that like you know we always think sufferings supposed to happen to somebody else especially when we love the Lord we feel like you know he's gonna protect me from all pain and all suffering and then you have those phone calls that just drop you to your knees and some people don't hear the voice of the Lord or feels presence if anything they they feel abandoned yeah yeah I think first off is the there's actually a moment of freedom when we come and we realize that for some reason suffering and difficulty takes us by surprise but Jesus is so faithful and he shares with us in the scriptures that that there will be difficulties and there will be suffering and there will be pain but that he won't abandon us and that's really what I stand on and I would love to say that whenever I'm struggling that that the Lord just I can totally feel his presence and that isn't always the case but I know that God is a God who is faithful and even though I may not feel something that I know God is who he says he is and that God who answers and is faithful to his promises and I just have to stand on that sometimes I rest on that now that's not this elixir that everything all fair but it is this confirmation this presence of the Lord is here yeah the sufferings are part of human condition you know it's not just us Christians who get to have difficulties but it's us Christians who get to experience the redemption in it life is pain anyone who says differently is selling you something Princess Bride what what was I thinking so I mean you all you need to do is watch the princess read that took a turn quick Scott you have anything to share about that question or thoughts about it Kimberley is here and her folks are still alive in their late 80s and it's such a gift and as I look back on the loss of my father almost thirty years ago when we moved here and then my mother five years ago I mean I know the mortality rate I knew their age and all of that but I mean that was really hard I mean unspeakably difficult for me to be at my father's bedside when he breathed his last and to entrust him to God my father and to realize for the first time in my life I have no other father but God and it was a very precious time but I just wanted to find the lever and pull it to stop the world and just to shout my father just died how dare you go on life as usual you know and likewise five years ago with my mother but watching my mother suffer for months and months from stage 4 bone cancer and then also to watch our Lord you know take her and to soften her heart she was an amazing mom in so many ways and she became a more amazing - and then you know in the last two years I've shared with you privately in a handful of others but a small handful something that is still going on I can't talk about but I mean in some ways I find that our Lord has drawn closer to me through a feeling of betrayal and misunderstanding accusation and that kind of father Mike had the steel cross put up on the hill long before the friary was there next to it and that has been a special place for me to go and hug the cross even though I can't get my arms all the way around it and I just feel as though sometimes the cross he gives me is that big in that Evy and I tell him I can't carry it he says I will and I have you know and so I do find that in our sorrow in our and our heart and our hardship you draw so much closer and makes the truth of the faith so much more real yeah I think that's a good point real quick it's got this that the moment we're able to embrace our cause ain't rather than just trying to run away from it and trying to get away from it that is a profound moment of conversion that that moment that that we embrace it we recognize it we name it and then we just invite Jesus to be present to it I mean if we really believe that this is the act of God's love and we can actually find love and mercy in a bloody crucified cross then we can find it in our own suffering in our own pain our own difficulty when we can begin to find God there it changes everything it changes I mean I always say we can see God in the beauty the did a wedding yesterday how lovely how pretty baptism lovely dementia you know divorce kovat begin to find him there we can find him anywhere a question this is specifically somebody asks this to sister Miriam how can we as Christians bring about greater mercy in our world today that's so divided yeah there's so much turmoil in the world isn't there and I I really think there's no other way to bring greater mercy to the world and to allow Christ to encounter us and mercy every day like there's just no other way to do that and we have to allow Christ to encounter us and people ask me all the time you know how can I be a better spouse how can be a better priest how can I be a better religious sister like what can I do like what are the 10 steps you know what can what can I do and I say this in all truth in all truth the the best way we can become better at whatever we're doing however we are to allow Jesus Christ to come and heal us every day it's just that there's no other option that there's no you know there's no other way than through there's no other way than through and so to allow Jesus to come into my life and bring bring mercy to me to bring healing to me to bring resurrection to me where he comes to sit with me in the places that are isolated and not in communion where Jesus comes it's so so deeply beautiful where he comes to us in these places to bring us in a communion that is a byproduct is from that seeing my misery and seeing the truth and seeing where I need the Lord how can I not offer that to other people how can I not and one of my superiors gave me such a great piece of advice many years ago she said you know my sister if you're ever struggling with somebody but there's somebody in your life for your just like Lord how do you love that person cuz I don't write like at all right now you know like how do you do that and she and she said this and I've done it ever since she's like ask Jesus how he sees that person and all honesty Jesus tell me how you see that person cuz I'm having a hard time seeing goodness in them and that's not on them that's on me if I can't see goodness in you that's me so Jesus teach me how teach me how to love this person teach me how you see them and teach me how to offer my heart for them that is just radically change to how I see myself but just how I see other people and everybody has a story everybody has a good reason why they're doing what they're doing and so just to kind of engage people with that area of Christ and allowing the Lord to come in and to be king and to be sovereign of these places but you know we have to allow Christ to come in and contrast every day there's just no other option than that it's really just being a witness of that mercy yes and you know we can't control other people you can only let God work in us and let God work in us you know continue to be part of the healing that needs to happen it ties into another question that's asked how has or maybe how can the church lead away lead the way in dealing with the current divisions in our country and world and maybe even specifically father Dave you know you know you've entered Franciscan at a very interesting time okay you've had quite a first year pouring about I don't know if when they and you've got the job if they handed you a booklet that said and here's what if there's a you know cataclysmic event that'll shut everything down that wasn't that didn't mention me I didn't have at the end of the page but the Lord's timing is perfect I mean how do you see your role here at Franciscan maybe being a part of that yeah yeah in the church well it's it's it's actually something I've been praying a lot about and thinking a lot about this whole division that we're experiencing in the culture and that the question specifically says in our culture in our country and I would say at the church as well and so the first thing I would say well the very first thing I would say is Jesus wants us to be united he wants his body to be whole he wants his body to come together and he prays for that John 17 I mean they made one yes yes I'm done I don't have anything else to say yes go ahead Scott no so so with that being said if that's what Jesus wants the evil one wants to divide and I think that's really really essential in in and there may be some places where that doesn't seem PC or whatever but the evil one wants to divide and destroy and we need to be able to call that out we as the body of Christ need to recognize that the other thing is to recognize that we are the body of Christ we are in this together and in one of the things that I thought a lot about is we we often look at the world is us in them and I just don't think that's how Jesus looks at us you know I just don't think that that's where he looks at us one of the lines in in the Holy Father Pope Francis's first encyclical was that he said that we tear down walls and we see names and faces and that just really struck me that you you always say sister that everybody has a story is that from the greatest showmen so but but as soon as we as soon as I knew this was gonna go great Bob as soon as that that wasn't me that was you know as soon as we recognized that right that that that everybody has a story and everybody's broken and when we when we can recognize and see that we are the body of Christ we come in this together and recognize that Jesus's desires that we come together I think that's the first step the other is I I'm disheartened at times that how critically we look at everybody else the office of readings just recently was talking about how quickly we are to point out other people's sins and offenses and yet we so often miss just just take a look at our own so I think to what sister was saying earlier that when we grow in our own personal relationship with the Lord and recognize that that I am in the need of mercy I could probably be more compassionate more more loving to somebody else a question for you dr. hum what are some ways that individuals and families can grow together in faith at home especially in time of pandemic we have a lot of time at home you know this is probably true no matter what the circumstances are but I would say in the last four months we have been afforded unique opportunities and graces as a family in the middle of March like so many others we had students come home Jeremiah and Joseph were in Detroit at Sacred Heart seminary and we were just kind of spitballing we had no idea what was going on and so when they were driving home I remember asking them specifically to think about what we could do together as a family and I challenged them because they're both at seminary now and one was preparing for ordination to the diakonos I said you know up until now the Hahn family has been rather patriarchal and matriarchal I wanted to become fracture Arkell I want the the sons the brothers to lead and so I challenge them instead of just going through the family rosary as we have for many years I want you to lead us and guide us in the office in the bravery and so for months jeremiah mostly but also joseph would lead us in morning prayer and an evening prayer as well but in addition to praying together more we also played together more games and that sort of thing frisbee outdoors you know and one of one other thing that that comes to my mind in terms of current events you know and what circumstances have you know how they've shaped our family and our faith we found out during Holy Week about this TV series The Chosen I don't you're familiar with this but yeah and I'll be honest I'm not really big on religious movies in fact I'm really small kind of down you know and critical probably more than I should be and so perhaps because my expectations were so low I was blown away but I wasn't the only one every single member of our family watched the chosen season one and we just fell in love with our Lord and Jesus is played by a developed Catholic actor by the name of Jonathan Rumi and so I reached out to him and he got back to me and we've become pretty good friends and we've prayed together and we've done some things together but I really would encourage you as the apostolate of friendship to share with your friends and family this series and also season 2 the other thing that I come comes to my mind is over the years one of my students a graduate father Michael Gately well-known Amerian you know has led us in 33 days to Morning Glory and then another student who's graduated father Don Callaway has consecration to st. Joseph and that rocked my world I mean I read the manuscript I blurb the book and then I prayed it for 33 days and it was just an amazing season of grace for the feast of Saint Joseph March 19th right at the beginning of the crisis and then another member of my family or a couple of them did it for May first the feast of st. Joseph the Worker there are so many other opportunities and moments of grace but I I do think that not traveling at all I mean we share that has afforded us opportunities to have a whole lot of fun and a whole lotta more time of Prayer and I would also say that setting aside time each day to attend Mass here in the field house at noon has been just a glorious thing and then also to pray outside my my mother gave me pigment that doesn't ever burn and the Blessed Virgin Mary has called me to enter more deeply into the Rosary for penance reparation and just gratitude and I have never known season of grace praying the rosary like it has been during this pandemic so glory to God in the highest glory to God indeed praise praise Jesus you know people talk about the new normal which I hate that phrase because it makes it sound like all the stuff that we don't like right now is gonna keep going but I think as Catholics we can try to embrace a new normal which is all the gifts he's given like we don't need to go back to the rat race we don't need to go back to all the things that you know distracted us from what God is doing and wants to keep doing in our lives and I think it's a it is an opportunity none of us wanted this situation many of us didn't even like it at all or still don't like it right but what we are gaining through this I think it's important that we let that be the new normal of our life whether it be time of prayer with family or just deeper contemplation whatever those things are you know God is giving us a gift it's not what we expected it might not be what we wanted but he's the giver of all good things and we certainly don't want to lose it that would be the greatest tragedy I think of all at this time is if we walked away and didn't let the Lord do anything with it and bring about redemption in our lives a question for father Dave how can in what way will current events affect how we share the gospel will evangelization be more challenging oh I think the I can't one of the iconic images for me of this last several months has been I think it was March 19th no was in the 19th when the Holy Father had the prayer the Holy Hour on Friday evening very early and it was kind of rainy in Rome in him walking by himself in st. Peter's Square which is usually crowded with literally hundreds of thousands of people and an evil holy father walking by himself up to there and lead us in prayer and one of the things that he said at that event was he invited us to reevaluate what matters and I think in the light of that I think actually the evangelization the possibility for evangelization is more now than it's perhaps ever been because so many things that people depended on things that they counted on has been stripped away so there's now a void in their life and people are wondering well what could happen what would happen and what and and we begin to speak into that every human heart is longing and searching for a relationship with Jesus and if we can begin to present that to a population to an individual who is feeling a fear emptiness questions concerns anxieties feeling like the things that they thought were ultimately going to satisfy aren't we can actually speak into that and and the other thing that's I think interesting about it is there's a very much of a common experience I think you said at the beginning he's got that globally in one way or another we've all gone through this together and there really aren't many things like that so that we can speak to a common experience of that st. Peter says that you know Kerry you know proclaim Christ wholly in your heart and always be ready to give reason the hope that you have and it's so beautiful that tonight we're really focusing on hope and I think just in that life of joy in the midst of chaos hope in the face of despair we have to be ready to give reason because I think a lot of people can look at us in this difficult time and say what's with you why are you that way but we have to be able to proclaim the name of Jesus into that moment I'd like to also add one thing and that is before kovat I didn't know what zoom was and I can't wait for the pandemic to lift to resume evangelization other ways but you know it's been amazing I mean to to Skype or to zoom with family with friends and that sort of thing I think I was mentioning it to a couple of people at dinner tonight that last year was the busiest year for traveling for me ever 62 events in the year I turned 62 and it was exciting it was exhilarating it was exhausting God press Teresa you know and so everything has been cancelled since you know the beginning of March for both of us you know and for others too and so I just thought well it'll be it'll be good and then I learned about zoom and invitations came in and you know 62 last year at last count 92 in the last four months yesterday speaking to a few thousand in the Philippines and then Australia Ireland Slovakia New Zealand England Canada and I mean I can't believe the opportunities I don't know what would have happened 20 years ago if this had hit you know in terms of not having internet not having or you know zoom or Skype and that sort of thing but I I can't believe the opportunities that our Lord presented and all of them involved driving less than one mile to a studio and no longer to the Pittsburgh Airport so I do believe that as things go back to the way they were we're gonna recognize the need to avoid getting back to that frantic pace and looking at opportunities to reach out to family members through Skype through zoom that sort of thing but also to take advantage of the opportunities to evangelize people wherever they are Slovakia Australia the Philippines or in Steubenville question for everybody what are some practical ways to be more vulnerable with the Lord and you've all shared so beautifully you know about opening up your hearts and and shared personally even just tonight you can imagine people watching it think gosh you're so comfortable doing that how how might we help those watching you know what advice might you have about being more vulnerable to the Lord I think honestly I'm simply asking the Lord help me help me to be more vulnerable it's being honest it's being very honest we have such a tendency to self-censor many times things come to the surface emotions come our memories come and we're like I can't think about that and we just shove that way back down in our hearts and our stories and and the sorrowful mysteries of our life never go away they never go away and until they're transformed many times they don't allow blessing they transmit suffering onto other people there's a great saying in healing circles that suffering that is not transformed as transmitted and so to continually allow the Lord into these places into his cuz we know that God knows everything it's not like he doesn't know but he delights to be invited into these places and it's many times where we just we become self-reliant or we have these masks that we wear and we you know people ask us how we're doing we're like good busy you know and nerdy through our hairs on fire underneath right I think I really believe like after all the years of speaking to people and giving parish missions and hearing so many people's stories you know good busy is right above the the iceberg above the water but right underneath the water there's the massive iceberg and it's full of all kinds of pain and fear and unresolved desires and all kinds of things that it's just it's beneath the surface where the Lord comes to encounter so I think it's a commitment to asking jesus oh jesus help me to open my heart to you help me to be vulnerable because that's how Christ lives Christ doesn't live he has no self defense mechanisms he has no façades he has nothing like he lives completely vulnerable completely open in his identity as a beloved son and he's teaching us how to be human I think when things you have to begin to get comfortable with and that's being uncomfortable and because that's the thing is we begin to feel something that feels uncomfortable and we don't want to talk about that we don't want to go there we don't want to share that I've left several years just prayed a lot over this text from Hebrews where it speaks of Jesus being weak and I used to think that weak was bad I equated weak with sin or weak with but weakness is part of the human condition and as Jesus was human he was weak and that's uncomfortable that that being weak and that recognizing that that I'm I have want and I'm sometimes afraid or anxious and actually begin to be comfortable with that because Jesus meets me in the middle of that was was a great blessing for me I think in my experience of Prayer it is allowing our Lord to show me where my fears are I am controlled by fear much more than I let myself know I'm also controlled by things I'm ashamed of and so you know getting the confession weekly for me is really helpful Kimberly and the kids have never suggested I go too often so I keep going you know I'm also rendered vulnerable when I recognize how easily angered I am and then to flip it around I also have something that you all don't have and that is a spouse who loves me and who respects me and then also respectfully criticizes me and that I think is really helpful to because you know it's not meant to tear down you know but but to build up you know we have 12 of those line of them little line up for it [Laughter] Kimberly though I'm not touching that [Applause] beautiful I think that's the power of community that's the power of relationship the human person is not meant to live isolated and alone and isn't that one of the most difficult things about this time is that we felt isolated and alone and we meet each other we meet each other we need like we all need each other and that's the power of community and communion and I think that's been such a profound revelation for all of us of like oh we we actually meet each other that's really important like Christianity is meant to be lived in a fellowship and a communion and we need each other so amen I don't know I mean again I'm thinking of Kimberly I am someone who is affected by a sense of inadequacy all the time and I've never felt sufficient to be a professor here I told father Mike that when he was interviewing me and so he reminded me that Christ is your sufficiency and I've had to be reminded of that again and again but it's also the case that you know hours before I'm here with all of you you know I feel like you know I didn't set out to be a celebrity and I don't know how to do it and I don't really want it except sometimes I do and I it's not healthy but I I think I say to our Lord you know people want so much of me you know so many people are asking so much and then he just reminds me actually they want me and so you get close to me you let me fill you and then you'll never run out of what it is they're really looking for and to me that kind of vulnerability preps me for a night like tonight where I feel hopelessly inadequate even though most people don't believe that what advice do you have and this actually ties in really well with what we've just been discussing those who are struggling with loneliness and isolation I mean you know in some ways we've been able to connect in different countries in different places but then at the end of the day we're just kind of touching the screen and we're really longing for you know deeper human contact or deep in human deeper human intimacy so do you have any advice for those that are really just still feeling abandoned and isolated and lost if I could real quick maybe just make a distinction and it's been helpful for me the question is loneliness and isolation and I remember when I was a novice I was reading something that novices read and it was about it was dealing with this whole issue of being lonely and loneliness as a part of being a novice but it made a distinction between loneliness and isolation and it said loneliness is a part of the human condition it's whenever we feel this loneliness it's this longing for God that only God can satisfy so the example was the husband whose wife has just had a baby he goes back to his house that night and the house is empty and it's quiet and there's this distinct loneliness or we used to have mailboxes you go to the mailbox as a novice and there was no mail there was this loneliness right but the the distinction is loneliness is always an invitation that God isolation is destructive isolation begins to separate us from as you said sister from relationship from from engaging other people from sharing my story and hearing other people's life so I think that distinction needs to be important is that there's always so many times of loneliness it's always an intimate relationship in invitation in relationship with Jesus isolation and that's we have to make sure we're very concrete about reaching out emailing zooming talking calling texting just making sure that we're communicating with others I knew this the second part of that question says what are some good practices to remain hopeful something that I found really helpful is actually out loud proclaiming the promises of God over my life that when I have the temptations to despair or doubt or isolation or what about to say you know what Jesus your you are faithful here and you were gonna come through and proclaiming his promises there's been such a powerful thing for me in my life of speaking that blessing out loud speaking the truth out loud because when the truth encounters the lies that I'm believing about myself it destroys the lies so there's a real power of coming of just proclaiming out louder in a situation a real situation no Jesus I'm not going to believe whatever this lie is I'm choosing to believe the truth that you love me and that you are going to come through for me and this is not the end of the story you know as Saint Julian of Norwich says in an Indian all shall be well and also a well and all manner of things shall be well on the end in the end because that's what the Lord does it's got any thoughts on on that one I mean again I have a bride as a best friend and so I don't have that kind of isolation and so I I do feel for the people who are alone and I would say that this is another this is an ideal time to reach out to people you know are isolated and lonely and I do have you know people I won't identify by name or grouping you end up entering into conversations with people who do feel deeply isolated and just being there you know the Ministry of presence whatever you want to call it and just let them know that they can contact you at any time I think they miss a great prayer I think for all of us that's to take a moment and allow the Lord to put a name or a face in your mind in your presence and reach out to that person because in this time of isolation and difficulty you know we don't know who is really hurting who just feels like they are absolutely drowning maybe it's somebody you haven't thought of for years maybe it was someone you went to school with but if you take some time in prayer and just say Lord you know who can I be a comfort to Lord revealed to me somebody I just need to reach out and call I mean that can save a life that can you know witness the faith that can save a soul you know just to be sensitive that you know if you are if you have the blessings of a family or a spouse or a religious community or whatever that might be and maybe some of you watching right now you're saying that's me you know like you're just saying right now I'm so alone I'm so isolated we just as a community here just want to take a moment to pray for you and I just invite everyone here just to just to raise your hand and Lord God we lift particularly someone who is watching the screen right now you know Lord we feel the isolation and the brokenness that this time has brought about and we ask your healing power we ask your hope Lord fill our brother and sister with hope this time of separation will not last forever and our longing and our loneliness aren't invitation to the true family of God and to heaven for which we were made and so Almighty God we pray your healing and your hope to come upon those who are scared who feel isolated feel hopeless that this word of blessing might dwell deep within their heart I pray for all of us listening Lord God that you would give us a name in a face that you would give us someone to reach out to with a message of love a friend maybe we haven't talked to in a long time even if it seems the most random acquaintances and Lord God for those who are lonely and are isolated the courage to reach out to a friend to courage to make a phone call send an email to be vulnerable before the Lord and each other and just to say I need help I need someone to talk with Almighty God you breathe life into our lungs many people are walking around dead and don't know it may we be witnesses to that light into that life that only you can give our Blessed Mother we ask in a special way that you would take care of your children in this difficult time wrap your mantle of protection around all of us and be with us as we pray hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now our death st. Francis of Assisi great pray for us praise be Jesus Christ no it is such a blessing to be with you tonight in this way whether it's in person or certainly online this is part of our mission here at Franciscan I've been blessed to be a part of the stubo conferences for 25 years I get to be on faculty here and we really want to invite you to be a part of what we're doing here because the world now more than ever needs the light of Jesus Christ the father Dave maybe you can just talk a little bit more about how we can continue to participate and what God is doing here in France love to I love to yourself wonder well thank you guys for joining us so much it's a blessing let's just thank it once again a sister for being with us is great blessing dr. Scott hi it's actually a really great blessing to be able to gather just with our small group that we have with us tonight and with a much larger group that is with us online it's been a summer like none other for the last 24 years every summer I've spent doing youth conferences and and it's been a part of my life that's really really dear and then other conferences for the priests and all of that and to be able to at least for a moment or to have people back on campus is been a great great blessing because what we're doing here is really like no other I found myself thinking this afternoon about 800 years ago a fairly insignificant man was walking through the UM Briand Valley and he had hopes and dreams about what he wanted his life to become and he was finding that all of that was being shattered and everywhere he was looking - expecting to find his satisfaction to find his dreams to find power and influence all of that was smoke it was in a small chapel and many of you had been there a small chapel called the San Damiano in the Umbrian Valley just outside of Assisi and this man Francis was looking at across that cross well not that cross the real crosses in Assisi and st. Claire but across a lot like that and lo Francis's kneeling down there and he hears the Lord speak to him a word that changed the world and from that cross he heard Francis Francis rebuild my church which is falling down around you when Francis was alive there was a problem within the priesthood and priests were being faithful disciples as they should the lady was LexA days achill they were questioning the sacraments the efficacy of the sacraments they weren't going to Mass it's a good thing we don't have times like that anymore huh so for 800 years those words have really reverberating in the hearts and the minds of Franciscan and and here at Franciscan University I've been here for a year now and I probably prayed over that text more than probably any other rebuild my church and I continue to hear the Lord speak to that and and really it's what Franciscan University is about is that we are about continuing the work in the mission that the Lord gave to Saint Francis to rebuild a church which is literally falling around we can all look around and we can see it but one of the things that made soon Francis so beautiful is he was able to recognize the difficulties and the struggles with the church but he also saw that the church was a bride and she was a bride who was beautiful and a bride who was holy and a bride who was spotless and I think sometimes we live in a world and that that's only seeing the difficulties and the struggles of brothers sisters we need to recognize them and the church needs to rebuild but she is still and will always be the bride and she will always be the spotless beautiful body of Christ and Franciscan University is committed to rebuilding that church and I would ask you and all those watching to be able to consider helping us do that how do we do that we obviously we do that by education I don't know if you've ever been a Franciscan University dave was sharing the first time he came here was not even a Catholic and was profoundly touched by what was taking place here by show of hands how many graduates do we have here okay those of you are home how many graduates I believe all of the music ministry came to Franciscan University it's an amazing place where young men and women are coming really in a world is is David Scher so beautifully earlier out of a world in a culture that is profoundly toxic and profoundly messed up it's a dumpster fire that's my theological term right and yet the Lord wants to those people to come to us and he trusts us as friars faculty and staff to form them and to educate them to help them discover truth in the classroom but outside of the classroom and all the things that are beautiful of the Lord in Franciscan University does that in a really dynamic way that we believe that the gospel should be preached to our students and it takes place in the classroom and it takes place in the gymnasium and it takes place here in the chapel and the residence hall because we don't think we should separate that which is faith and that which is science and those two things can come together faith and reason actually live alive here Frances University and we think when we take a student and we form them and we train them and we evangelize them and we send them back to help rebuild the church which is falling around us but we don't just do that in the you know in the classroom we also do that through conferences we would have had about 12,000 young people come through our campus this summer for conferences across the country we would have had around sixty thousand young people and this summer we weren't able to do that again Dave shared earlier how he an adult was converted and in part of his conversion his transformation in his evangelization was at a youth conference for a bunch of teenagers this is taking place all over he shared and I don't understand this Dave and I are gonna have to have a talk later his daughter whose name is Claire became a Dominican I just I'm just not sure how that happened and yet I think quite beautifully there's a study that's done every year of priests and religious and they asked one of the questions they asked now is how is it that you came to religious life thirteen percent of those who have come in religious life were ordained last year spoke at Franciscan University the conference's in our in our university having a profound impact on them and on their life this is what we were about at Francis University about really taking young men and women inviting them to be a part of this University part of our conferences and we need help one of the things that dr. Hahn mentioned earlier this in early April we had this crazy idea here to try to help alleviate difficulties and struggles that we would invite new students to come this semester without cost for tuition it's what I believe the Lord wanted us to do and you know I discovered something pretty remarkable we called this the step in faith and what I discovered is when people see the church move when people see men and women step in faith they say I want to be a part of that I'm tired of hiding I'm tired of running around I'm tired of criticizing I'm tired of making excuses I want to be a part of where the faith is moving and where God is doing something like that one of the first donations we got with the step in faith was from a young couple that had been married just a couple of years both were graduates of the University and they said father day we've never been so I still get emotional every time I talk about this we've never been so proud to be a graduate of Francis University there's a young couple and they gave us a check for $2,400 and it was their stimulus checks they said father we don't need this we want you to have it more or the donation that we got about four days ago from a priest who was a great supporter and loved Franciscan University and he just passed away Monsignor Hickerson and unexpectedly we got a check for $55,000 because he said I want you to know how special this place has been so part of that money we're using for this for our program tonight for to be able to take care of our program but I would like to invite you and I'd like to invite our viewers to be a part of what God is doing if you see that yes the the church the culture is being transformed in a way that is not ultimately good not ultimately of the Lord and you want to support what we're doing here at Francis University I would be so grateful that we cannot do this together my faculty and staff hears me say this every time I speak is that we are in this together Franciscan University has made a step in faith and I'd like to invite you to make a step in faith as I was praying earlier I had the sense that particularly online that there are some people there who could help us with tremendously and being able to help us with a very significant donation I invite you to reach out to me personally if that's you we are about doing a work of the Lord and I want you to be part of it with us because as we come together we can do amazing things and we can help the world see the church who is a bride to be able to see the things that Francis was able to see the things that we're able to see at the University invite other people to be a part of that so I thank you for prayerfully considering that I believe Dave you're gonna help us with I there's logistics about it that's beyond my paygrade so Dave could be able to help us with that so thank you Thank You father Dave have you been blessed by the night of hope any man have you have you grown a little bit closer to our Lord and Savior who is our hope tonight I hope so and to whom much is given much is required just as I have been blessed by Franciscan University my Steubenville conferences my family has been blessed I've seen the lives of tens of thousands of people that I've personally interacted with who have been blessed by this university and by these conferences and tonight I hope you've experienced some of those blessings and feel led to respond in some way to this call that father dave has given you maybe tonight it's to match the faith of that young couple who put forward the twenty four hundred dollars to invest not only into the students on the campus here at Franciscan University but also into reaching more people with the hope of Jesus Christ through Steubenville conferences or maybe tonight maybe God's put on your heart to match the faith of that priest the Monsignor who is part of his estate gave fifty five thousand dollars to the university to help spread the hope that he is seen through this university and through the conference's around the world now no amount is too small but is it okay for me to say that no amount is too large is that all right to say that here in terms of responding yes okay thank you very much so just a few things I want you to think about as you respond on the page where you're watching this live stream Franciscan University has been in existence since 1946 nearly seventy four years and the Steubenville conferences have been happening for forty-five years and during that time millions of lives and souls have been impacted by this school and by these conferences and we are now given an invitation to respond to take this work to a whole new level of impact to bring the hope of Christ to more students to form young leaders who go out and transform the world for Jesus Christ and also to reach more people in new ways through and go conferences so on the webpage where you're watching the livestream right now there is a button and it simply says give now it's pretty self-explanatory and I actually have this pulled up on my very own phone right now and I have gone through and done this already on my own but I'm going to simply walk you through very briefly what this one tael if you're on a phone or on your computer your mobile device whatever you're on at the very top it says yes father Dave here's my gift and it has various different amounts maybe tonight God is going to put on your heart a $50 one-time gift or $100 one-time gift or $1000 one-time gift or you can check the box to make this a monthly gift as you scroll down on the page and this opens in a new tab so you won't be taken away from the very end of the Steubenville night of Hope conference you can fill in your name your email address your phone number your country your address city state zip it takes just about a minute that's how about how long it took me to fill this out and then you can make your gift by other direct debit or by credit card I filled in my card holder name my card number expiration date and the CSC that's the little magic 3 digital number on the back of your card and you get all the way done down at the bottom and you simply click give now and I'm not asking you to do anything that I am not doing myself I just made my gift to Franciscan University and to Steubenville conferences and would invite you to go ahead and pray ask God to show you what he wants you to do and as he leads you respond and say yes as for me in my house we will serve you and we will together help to bring the hope of Jesus Christ to a desperate hurting world father Dave if you can lead us in a final blessing thank you so much Dave appreciate it and thank you everybody for your support particularly ask also for your prayers we are ready to bring back students and excited to have them come back and your support will be able to help us do that so why don't we pray Heavenly Father we thank you for your blessings of this night in your name and as your priest Jesus I claim the healing and the freedom and the restoration the hope that you've brought to the men and women who have been a part of our evening Jesus I pray your protection as your priests protect all those who've been a part of our evening protect them from struggle and the difficulties protect them from the evil one how he desires to steal the grace that you provided this night Lord you are good and you are holy and you have called us by name to be a part of bringing forth great hope in a world that desperately needs it Almighty God pratas blessings upon you God who has father son and holy spirit amen again thank you so much for joining us it's been a great blessing I want to thank all the faculty and staff the students the alumni everybody has made this a great night look forward you're always welcome to Franciscan University we look forward to having you join us Bob do you have a closing song yes I do how about a little bit more energy Bob yes I do go why don't we stand up with the closing song [Music] I was buried beneath my shame who could carry that kind of weight [Music] it was mad too to your land I was breathing [Music] Oh - hi it was matter Jay laughs [Music] and I ran out of that gray [Music] Syria yes day come [Music] your glorious day [Music] our mercy has saved my soul and your freedom I know do they do Jesus when I made come and I ran out of that grace yes day man [Music] that [Music] Oh glorious day [Music] we hope and what we do not see if we know God is present with us and he will save us bring us joy I needed rescue my sin was heavy chains break got the weight of your glory I needed shelter I was an orphan if you call be a citizen of heaven when I was broken [Music] I ran out of that brave [Music] yes day [Music] it's eerie yes day god bless them thanks for joining us this evening [Music] are you finished you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you

Channel: Steubenville Conferences

Views: 35,880

Rating: 4.8926973 out of 5

Keywords: Steubenville Conferences, Catholic, Franciscan University, Catholic Ministry, New Evangelization, adult catholic conference, catholic adult conference, scott hahn, bob rice, dave pivonka, fr. dave pivonka, sr. miriam heidland, sr. miriam james

Id: sgebcptRtWQ

Length: 187min 3sec (11223 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 20 2020