WEBVTT 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:08.560 There's a pattern that appears over and over again in the Bible whenever God calls someone to a great mission. 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:11.359 First comes an encounter with God. 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:15.759 Then comes an awareness of one's own weakness. 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:18.160 Then comes God's grace. 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:20.559 And finally, the mission. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:25.039 We see that exact pattern in today's first reading. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:29.839 Isaiah enters the temple and suddenly heaven is open before him. 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:33.039 He sees the Lord seated upon his throne. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:38.159 The seraphim cry out holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:42.079 Notice they do not say love, love, love. 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:50.399 God is love, of course, but before we can understand his love, we must first understand his holiness. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:59.840 Holiness means that God is utterly unlike us, infinite, perfect, majestic, completely pure. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.840 The closer Isaiah comes to that holiness, the more aware he becomes of himself. 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:09.599 He doesn't say, What a wonderful prophet I am. 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:16.640 No, he says, Woe is me, I am doomed, for I am a man of unclean lips. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:19.680 That's always a mark of authentic holiness. 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:23.280 The saints never became more impressed with themselves. 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:26.239 No, they became more aware of God's greatness. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:31.519 The closer they came to the light, the more clearly they were able to see. 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:36.319 That's why humility is not thinking poorly of yourself. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:40.159 Humility is seeing yourself truthfully before God. 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:45.120 Then comes one of the very beautiful moment in the scriptures. 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:51.680 A seraphant takes a burning ember from the altar and touches Isaiah's lips. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:53.439 Imagine that. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:02:01.120 The very lips Isaiah believed made him unworthy become the place where God begins his healing. 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:05.439 God does not ignore Isaiah's weakness, he transforms it. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:11.759 And only after Isaiah has been purified does God ask, Whom shall I send? 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:15.120 Notice something remarkable. 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:18.879 God does not force anyone, he invites. 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:23.599 And Isaiah freely answers, Here am I, send me. 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:27.439 Those four words have changed history. 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:31.039 Every vocation begins there. 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:40.400 Every priest, every religious sister, every missionary, every husband, every wife, every Christian disciple says, Here I am. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:48.240 Not because I'm perfect, not because I have all the answers or everything figured out, but because I trust the one who is sending me. 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:56.080 And that brings us beautifully to today's feast day, the memorial of Saint Benedict, Benedict of Nursia. 00:02:56.639 --> 00:03:02.719 When Benedict looked at the collapse of the Roman world around him, he did not complain about the darkness. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:04.879 He himself became a light. 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:10.879 He did not try to save civilization through politics or power, no, he sought holiness. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:16.960 He built communities centered on prayer, on work, on discipline and the worship of God. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:22.560 His famous motto was simple Oda et labora, pray and work. 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:25.919 He understood something we often forget. 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:32.560 The world is changed not first by great speeches, but by holy lives. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:43.520 Europe was rebuilt not because Benedict organized a movement, it was rebuilt because thousands of ordinary monks quietly live the gospel day after day. 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:47.039 History is often changed by people no one notices. 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:51.919 Then Jesus says something three different times in the gospel. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:54.159 Do not be afraid. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:58.159 Whenever God repeats himself, we should pay attention. 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:01.680 Fear is one of Satan's greatest weapons. 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:04.479 Fear keeps people from forgiving. 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:09.840 Fear keeps people from discerning a vocation, from speaking about Christ. 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:14.479 Fear keeps people from becoming the saints God created them to be. 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:18.720 Jesus does not promise that we will avoid suffering. 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:23.199 He promises something greater, that the Father knows us intimately. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:26.560 Even all the hairs on your head are counted. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:28.079 Think about that. 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:33.279 God knows things about you that you do not even know about yourself. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:40.480 If he cares about something as small as a sparrow, how much more does he care about you? 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:43.279 So why be afraid? 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:48.800 Well, perhaps this is the lesson for us today as we wrap up this week. 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:52.800 Beautiful lesson with the life of Saint Benedict. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:55.759 The world does not need more anxious Christians. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:58.160 It needs more holy Christians. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:10.399 Men and women who have encountered God, who know their own weakness, who have allowed his grace to purify them, and who are no longer afraid to say, Here I am, Lord, send me. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:13.360 That's how Isaiah changed Israel. 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:16.000 That's how Saint Benedict changed Europe. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:21.759 And that is still how Christ changes the world, one faithful Christian at a time. 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:22.720 Amen.