Fourteenth Sunday ot God Bless Us Help Children 7 5 2026 Deacon Louis Zemlick

Zechariah 9:9-10 CCC mean Catechism Catholic Church CCC559 The Work of the Cross yoke yourself to Christ have courage.

Psalm 154:1-2, 8-11, 12-13 CCC295,342 God creates with Wisdom & Love.

Romans 8:9, 11-13 Read 10 our problem is SIN. CCC632,658,693,695,989,990, We America are Anointed to show the Freedom of God. 

Gospel Matthew 11:25-30 CCC240,443,459,473,544,1615,1658,2603,2701,2779,2785 True freedom is Dependence on Jesus Christ the only true King, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, the true Queen, and God the Father the only Father.

God please bless the Children who have Died.

DeaconLouisZemlick.com......Pray & do the Work of God

God has Blessed America because we believe in Freedom, Truth, Love, Faith, Healing.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello, everybody. This is Deacon Louis Zemlik here in the Diocese of Kalamazoo. Welcome to our podcast program, Tiffany Radio, Tiffany Podcast. We call it Epiphany because we hope that you have an awakening today. And we we call that that a long time as our radio program. And I know it's still listed like that, so I kind of want to try to mention Epiphany, even though there's a ton of other radio and podcasts with that name. I'm going to play a little background music too to our show. I hope people don't get offended by it, you know, as we're reading the scriptures and things like that. But uh there's a beautiful song at the beginning of this. Uh there's just some stuff off of YouTube. But uh happy Independence Day, 4th of July. Happy, hopefully, for you, dependence on Jesus Christ and on the Holy Catholic Church this Independence Day. And uh Independence is very good, but um dependence on God and dependence on one another's as brothers and sisters in Christ. And um, you know, our our independence is something that's very beautiful. And you know, someone had mentioned to me about you know uh for uh they were you know free uh uh fleeing religious persecution, but for the most part it was it was economic. It was it was the taxation situation, taxation without representation is why the American Revolution happened. And um and of course, uh freedom of religion too, right? Freedom, freedom, God-given freedom. But what we have today is we have uh some of those freedoms being taken from us, whether it be in taxation or whether it be with uh small groups of people or politicians, or even maybe even religions who try to impose themselves onto our um our way of governance, which is, you know, and and I love what uh Pope John Paul, not you know, Pope John Paul, yes, but uh Pope Benedict XVI said that you know, where there were times in church's history in the last 2,000 years where the church got too close to government, right? Too close and working with government, and it almost destroyed the church. Because, my brothers and sisters, we have to follow Jesus Christ first. You know, I love America, I love this country, I'm of I'm of um Czechoslovakian and Irish descent of my ancestors, and yes, I love this country, and God bless America as well. But my brothers and sisters, this is a free, this is a free country. And this and America is a kind of a real special gift, too, for all of us. But we we battle against totalitarian regimes within different uh uh uh uh religious sects and uh oligarchs and business and uh industry and uh governments uh with over-taxation and over-control of the people as well. So keep this in mind. So there's my little three-minute spiel on that. But there's a beautiful uh thing on the American Revelation and American Revelation, yeah, American Revelation and American Revolution on Wikipedia, and it's 55 pages. I printed off the first 12 pages, I'm not gonna read it all to you, but there's 55 pages, and it is very good, step by step, taking me through. And I'm and I'm hoping that it's potentially accurate. You know, I'm gonna read through it uh over the weekend. But uh yeah, independence from Great Britain, from the English, and uh and and from the French too, independence from the French, even though the French helped us, you know, the French were still trying to control part of this country too, right? And these were not churches per se, um, but they were uh governments, even though um both of those governments were close to the church, and I and you know, it's a long story, depending on who you ask, right? But this is the 14th Sunday in ordinary time. Happy Independence Day, happy 4th of July. Be safe out there, uh safety, always safety first. But there's a beautiful thing I want you to think about. You know, we're gonna talk about children, and uh there's this one word in Holy Scripture. Uh, whether you've got a Catholic Bible or a um Protestant Bible, there is a this word uh that is in there three times more than the word love, three times more than the word peace, three times more than joy, and that is children. Children, my brothers and sisters, and we have lost our way. Um the amount of carnage that we have caused in this country and throughout the world, the amount of horrible sin that we have committed against children uh in this world is abominable. I mean, I would say that we are so close to being monsters. Um, and these are you know, monsters who wear suits and monsters who wear clerics and monsters who wear uh uh school teachers' clothing and you know, people who we would trust, right, have failed us. This is sin, my brothers and sisters. And sin is very sticky and it is all over the place, right? And the only thing that can combat it is relationship with Jesus Christ and to receive the sacraments, to receive holy baptism, to receive holy communion, to reconcile yourself with God. And so hopefully today in these beautiful scriptures that we've had and teachings that we have, um, and there's a lot of saints for today too. And uh uh I just I'm just gonna mention just a few of them. St. Elizabeth of, of course, Independence Day today, uh July 4th, but tomorrow, July 5th, St. Elizabeth, uh, which is Sunday, St. Elizabeth of Portugal. And congratulations to the Portugal uh uh soccer team too winning. St. Anthony, uh St. Moen, uh, and then the 4th of July, also Saint Pierre Giorgio Frasati, who was just canonized, right? And can't just canonized uh one year ago uh on uh 2025, St. Maria Goretti from is on the sixth, uh and then just they go on, St. Kellyan, St. all this week, St. Augustine Zyle, the Martyrs of Grorum, uh St. Louis Leo Ignatius, St. Pauline of the Heart, uh Saint Canut of Denmark on 710, Saint Benedict on 711. So there you go. I didn't think I was gonna get through most of them, but I did. So there we go. So here we are. Uh DeaconLouisemlik.com. Feel free to pass our radio program on. And I'm just gonna start this music off here real quick. I hope you hope you guys don't mind it. Uh, but I think it's really quite quite beautiful to hear.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Do not bring the perfect prayer.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Yeah, well it's very good.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Bring the earnest words and those. Yep, that's right. For the broken ones of feet. Think about the veterans. Yeah. Are we praying? This is a prayer.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Think about it. Okay, so I'm gonna just play a little background music like that, but um, I'm gonna start reading in the scriptures, okay? So uh hope it's not a little bit too dramatic for you, but uh, I just heard this and I just I had to play it. It's so beautiful. So here we go. The book of Zechariah played, uh played, uh read at Holy Mass this weekend, uh, July 5th, and of course uh Saturday evening, July 4th, at Holy Mass in the Holy Catholic Church throughout the world. Reading from the book of Zechariah, chapter 9, verses 9 through 10. Thus says the Lord, rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem. See, your king shall come to you. A just savior is he, meek and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass. He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, a warrior's bow shall be banished, and he shall proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. The word of the Lord, thanks be to God. Sound familiar, my brothers and sisters? Getting ready for the crucifixion of Jesus. Excuse me, I will extol you, oh God and King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. Hallelujah. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and great kindness. The Lord is good to all and compassionate towards all his works. Alleluia. Let all your works give you thanks, O Lord, and let your faithful ones bless you. Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might. The Lord is faithful in all his words and holy in all his works. The Lord lifts up all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. Hallelujah. Our second reading is from the book of Romans, chapter 8, verses 9. Then they skip verse 10, but we're gonna we'll read that off to the side. And of course it has to do with sin, you know, which apparently Rome doesn't think sin exists. Um, but they've had that problem for a long time. Most of the big cities have that problem. They don't think sin exists because it's all around them. They think it's normal. They think the the the the just like they think abortion is normal and murder is normal, and starvation and homelessness, and and they think it's all normal. It's not normal, you guys. It's sickness, it's sin. It's horrible. It's an abomination to God. Romans chapter eight. Brothers and sisters, you are not in the flesh. On the contrary, you are in the spirit. If only the spirit of God dwells in you, whoever does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. If the spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his spirit that dwells in you. Consequently, brothers and sisters, we are not debtors to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put death through the deeds of the body, you will live the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Our gospel reading today is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter eleven, verse 25 through 30, a reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. Glory to you, O Lord. At that time, Jesus exclaimed, Give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to the little ones. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and any one to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. Come to me, all you who are labor and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for yourselves, for my yoke is easy and my burden light. The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. May the words of this gospel wipe away our sins. Well, welcome, my brothers and sisters. My name is Deacon Louis Zimlik here in the Diocese of Kalamazoo, Michigan. We're glad you're with us here today. You can see our get our uh podcast program on deaconlouisimlick.com. Most of the almost all the podcast platforms carry it. So great readings, great scriptures, uh, happy Independence Day, happy Fourth of July. And um, you know, we always think about this um independence, to be independent, to be uh uh go, go, go, work, work, work, work. But it is good, my brothers and sisters, to see this in our gospel reading today, where Jesus tells us to take his yoke upon us, right? For my yoke is easy and my burden light, and he will give us rest. Because it's not just about work, work, work, go, go, go. And a lot of our culture has uh taught us that this uh radical independence, this um, you know, don't have a family, don't get married, don't do any of this, just just just you, you, you, me, myself, and I. I call it the the broken trinity of me, right? You know, the the good trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the broken trinity, me, myself, and I, the sickness, me, myself, and I, right? And and grading my own paperwork and just, you know, it's all about me and and all that. So, but let's go right into the scriptures today. So Jesus' messianic entrance into Jerusalem. And you think about that for the 4th of July, that these, you know, this is the 14th Sunday in ordinary time or a few weeks into Pentecost, past Pentecost. But we are called, my brothers and sisters, the church is the Catholic Church is constantly calling us forward to do good, to change the world, to change ourselves, to change our families, to become more devoted to God and to Jesus Christ and to Holy Mother Church. And so it gives us this glimpse. You know, we're we're less than six months away from Christmas. We just had John the Baptist's birthday last week, right? And so the church is is is pointing us, looking, making us look more towards, even towards towards Christmas and even into next Easter, and see how these repeats, this 33 years of Jesus' life repeats within this 12-month cycle. Do you understand that? To convert our hearts to get our attention. So when you go to mass, before you go to mass, read the readings. Read the readings, pray on the readings, think about them. Think about them. So when you get to mass, you're not, you know, running around, especially if you have kids running around, you don't know you know what's going on, and all of a sudden you go up for holy communion, and then everybody runs out the door. Or they run over and they go get donuts. Oh, is the ambulance going by? So we say a prayer for those people. Pray for everyone this weekend, too. And when you hear an ambulance, say a prayer. You know, that's a good thing to do. And yes, as Catholics, we do believe in works. I wish our Protestant brothers and sisters and Bible church brothers and sisters would believe in the same. The world would be different, it would be better. Work. Let us do the works of Jesus Christ. That is what all these scriptures tell us to do the work of God. That's what we're here for. Not here to get a suntan and blow off firecrackers. No, we're here to help people, we're here to help people, and we don't believe that we earn our salvation that way either. But it's part of it. It is part of it. So believe it or not, you and you believe the you know, preacher who's been a preacher for six months, and that's fine. You go right ahead and do whatever you need to do. 559 of the Catechism. How will Jerusalem welcome her Messiah? Although Jesus had always refused popular attempts to make him king, he chose the time and prepared for the details for his messianic entry into the city of his father David, acclaimed as son of David and the one who brings salvation. Hosanna. Hosanna means save or gives salvation. The king of glory enters the city riding on an ass, riding on a donkey, not on a horse. Then we go into our psalm reading. Therefore, the psalmist exclaims, O Lord, how manifold are your works in the wisdom you have made them all, and the Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all he has made. Psalm 104 and Psalm 145. The hierarchy of creatures, also from Psalm 145, is expressed in the order of the six days, from the less perfect to the more perfect. God loves all his creatures and takes care of each one, even the sparrow. Nevertheless, Jesus says, You are of more value than many sparrows. Or again, how much more value is a man than a sheep? And I will add to that, a baby. My brothers and sisters, how much more valuable is a baby? The most important, I would say, yes. Yes, the most important. Then we go on to Romans and the teaching of the church. Remember on our podcast, we have all of these catechism teachings, all of these listings, so you can check them out, read them for yourselves online or get a catechism. That'd be great. Yeah, it's so good. And uh the music's good too. So here we go. Christ descended into hell. The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was raised from the dead presuppose the crucified one sojourned to the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection. This was the first meaning given to the apostolic preaching of Christ's descent into hell, that Jesus, like all men, experienced death, and his soul joined to the others in the realm of the dead. But his descendants there as savior. He descends there as Savior, proclaiming the good news to the spirits imprisoned there. That's also in Acts 3, Romans 8, of course, for today, 1 Corinthians 15 and Hebrews 13. That's 632 of the catechism. For y'all who are just learning the catechism, the Catholic Church, these teachings are rock solid. Titles of the Holy Spirit. This is also from Romans 8. Besides the proper name of the Holy Spirit, which is most frequently used in the Acts of the Apostles. And the epistles. We also find Saint Paul, the titles, the spirit of the promise, the spirit of adoption, the spirit of Christ, the spirit of the Lord, and the Spirit of God. And in Saint Peter, the Spirit of Glory. Another great one. 695 of the Catechism anointing. This will blow your mind. And I think if you ever thought about joining the Catholic Church, you think maybe the Catholics are right. Maybe they've been right for the last 2,000 years. Well, read 695 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in your in your browser. Just do CCC 695 and Catechism of the Catholic Church will come up. Hopefully it's it's not something bad. But read that. Finally, it was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, now fully established as Christ in his humanity, victorious over death. Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit abundantly until the saints constitute in the union with humanity the Son of God, the perfect man to measure the statue of the fullness of Christ, the whole Christ. Isn't that amazing? That's from St. Augustine, too. Okay, here we go. Last one. I believe in the resurrection of the dead. The term flesh remains to the man in his state of weakness and mortality. The resurrection of the flesh, the literal formation of the apostles' creed, means not only that the immortal body will live on after death, but even our mortal body will come to life again. 990 of the catechism. So good. Here we go. Our gospel. Only got about five minutes to go through it. I know that I had believed, to believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, faith and grace, my brothers and sisters, the Father revealed by the Son, the only Son of God. Why did the Word become flesh? 459 of the Catechism. The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. On the mountain of the Transfiguration, the Father commands, listen to him. God the Father tells us to listen to Jesus Christ. Listen to Jesus Christ, my brothers and sisters. You can say, Well, I believe in America. God bless America. God bless this, God bless that. Do you ever pray? Do you ever forgive your enemies? I mean, what's the point in saying God bless America and flying the flag and all this although this patriotism if you don't actually pray and don't actually believe, believe, believe, believe in the living God. But you believe in abortion and you believe in this and that and the other thing. You don't care about the homeless, you don't care about the poor, you don't care about little children. These are the things of God. These are the works of God that we need to work on because they're the result of us and our selfishness. I do believe that. I really do believe that. The result of our selfishness. And marriage. And we talked about marriage, you know. Sometimes, you know, the and I know marriages fall apart. I know that happens. I know that happens. But sometimes they fail because of our own selfishness, because of what we've decided to do. This is what I'm gonna do. It's about my life, it's about my independence. Really? It might be it might be more about that. It might be about your salvation, might be about that. 544 of the catechism. To them, the little ones, the Father is pleased to reveal what remains hidden to the wise ones. The Father is pleased to reveal. Jesus shares the life of the poor from the cradle to the cross. He expresses hunger and thirst and privation. Jesus identifies himself with the poor of every kind and makes love toward them the condition for entering his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. My brothers and sisters, the domestic church, your home, your family. See, Christ is a home and family for everyone, especially those who labor or are heavy laden. Jesus prays. And the last part of this is all about prayer, my brothers and sisters, to pray for the poor, to pray for infants and children, expressed in the depths of his heart, the adherence of the father's good pleasure, echoing the mother's fiat at the time of his conception and prefiguring what he is to say to the father in his agony. The whole prayer of Jesus is contained in a loving adherence of his humanity, of his human heart to the mystery of the will of the Father. Wow, just amazing. Vocal prayer. And Jesus, of course, prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. And this trusting heart to be like little children, to say Abba, Father, our Father who art in heaven, to pray those prayers, the prayers of purification. Second, the humble and trusting heart that enables us to turn and become like children of God, to be the gift that God wants us to be. So, my brothers and sisters, go to Mass. Pray for our country, pray for our leaders, pray for our president, pray for people in law enforcement, pray for your enemies, pray for people you don't like, you know, pray for all these, you know, people who that we are so lost, and believe me, we are so lost that we still think the destroying of a baby is the answer. That's the answer to independence and happiness. It is not the answer. And to pray for those women and men, mothers and fathers who have been forced into making such a horrible decision. There is healing and there is grace for you. And your baby is waiting for you in heaven. So we we pray for you and we we pray for healing for you. We pray for healing for our country and for this world that we can turn truly to Jesus with faith and works and to do the things that God wants us to do, to not sit idly by, but to pray in peace and love and kindness and most of all in forgiveness. May Almighty God bless you in the name of the Father, the Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you all. God bless America. Happy Independence Day. God bless you. Love you.