SPEAKER_01 0:02

Just tap up my picture. Yeah, it's all good. Yep. Alright, let's uh we'll get do a little prayer here. I'm gonna bring up the volume a little bit. Alright, everybody's still talking. Okay, name of the Father, name of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your spirit, and they shall be created, and thou shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray. Our Lady, seated wisdom, pray for us. Name of the Father, name of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And so the pages, Father, assign me is really the end of the chapter. So I thought that maybe this would be a good time for sort of you know random theological questions that you might have to date, given all what we have covered, you know, up through because you, you know, up through page, because really we're up to the end of chapter three. So do we you know, do we have um something that you have been it's been stirring in your heart, question you want to ask a priest, something that you've been working, maybe even during the the Lenten season, something you'd like to know about? So so who have now we can maybe do do like a kind of like a stump the priest kind of session today. How about that? I think that would be kind of nice, right? Do you have something you want to stump the priest with? Let's see, we'll have to wait here. It usually takes a few minutes for someone to come up with something. Oh, yeah, go ahead, yeah. So we're you're talking about sort of either um Jesus as a so the question is about the identity of Jesus as the Son of God. As uh right, so that as as divine. So let's let's think about a couple a couple different a couple different things. Um first of all, we know from so in John's gospel in particular, you know, and today's gospel has one of these type of passages. There's these I am statements. So this week and we have the raising of Lazarus in the Gospel because I am the resurrection and the life. Right? So, and then we have I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world. Okay. There's also in John's Gospel there's dialogue. And I'll let me go look this up as I have to do a quick lookup here. Well, it's when you well, yeah, you have well, of course you have the prologue of John's Gospel, which talks about Jesus as the Word, made flesh, of course, right? That the beginning was the word. And you know, it's interesting bringing up the prologue, which is a good contribution, thank you. Um that the even the when it says was the word, it's the the Greek grammar is is continuous action in past time. So, you know, there's different ways of looking at the past. You can see something as a completed action in past time or something that was a continuous action in past time, and and the the Greek um grammar, right, is has that flexibility. So it's rather awkward for us to say or translate that as uh and the word was being God, because that's how it would literally translate that. That's an awkward translation. So even the grammar of that of that phrase in in the prologue of John's gospel um suggests that, of course, Saint John is identifying Jesus as the Son of God. So now when we look at the actions of Jesus, so in many instances, Jesus asserts divine power in various places, even in the synoptics. Because some might claim that Jesus never claimed to be God, which is not true. You don't have the phrase I am God, right? That's not a phrase that Jesus uses. That's sort of a modern expectation. So he he does things and says things in ways that already he is claiming his divinity. So for example, the man who is paralyzed and he's teaching in Capernaum, maybe at the house of Peter, and the man has got four friends, and they lower, they tear up the roof and lower him down in the midst of all the people in the house where Jesus is teaching. And the first thing that Jesus says is not pick up your mat and walk. It's you know, child, your sins are forgiven. So let's we're we're as already as already you know practicing Catholics, we're used to hearing the phrase your sins are forgiven. We're sort of accustomed to that, but now put yourself in the mind of a first century devout Jew. Think of the Mosaic Law. So when you have the Mosaic Law and there are detailed procedures about how to have certain sins forgiven, and they all involve a form of sacrifice. So I have to bring this animal to the tent of meeting or later on the temple, and then the priest has to do this, that, and the other thing for this kind of sin, and so this so a sacrifice has to happen. So when Jesus is saying your sins are forgiven, that's not something any of the prophets would say. He is he is asserting his power as God to forgive sin. He is, you say, doing bypassing the entire Mosaic law in one moment. So he's asserting his divine authority in that moment. That's one way, that's first of all, a very blatant way of him asserting divine power or saying that I am the Son of God. He also refers to himself as the Son of Man, which refers to Daniel chapter 7, when there's the vision of the ancient one and the and the one like a son of man receives power and authority and dominion from second. So even how he refers to himself, the son of man, right, which will also he will he will refer to that passage in when he is on trial in front of the Sanhedrin, right? You will see the power coming on high and the son of man coming on the clouds, and then that's when uh Caiaphas, you know, tears open his uh his garments as a sign of his condemnation of our Lord, because he's condemning him of blasphemy, which he's not committing because he is who he says he is, right? We know that in John's gospel he'll he'll say something like, Well, he says, Before Abraham was I am. When he says that, he's just he's using the divine name, right? Harkens back to the book of Exodus, when Moses goes to the is out in the desert, he sees the burning bush, and of course, God reveals himself as I am who am. So, and then when you when you see uh him walking on the water, calming the seas and the winds, um, these are all acts of divine prerogative, if that that if that that makes sense. So um so the today's gospel you have a unique interaction between his sort of infused knowledge and from the from his divine knowledge and his human knowledge and human experience, which I find interesting because he he gets the message that, of course, if you're coming to 1230 mass, you're going to hear this, so sorry you'll hear it again. You know, he's already, he he knows that Lazarus is going to die. He waits a few days. Uh and I think because he knows he's going to commit the, he's gonna, he's gonna enact this great miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, uh, because he even tells the apostles, you know, Lazarus has died. I think this is like a test of Martha and Mary's faith in him. And then when he arrives on the scene, you know, Martha comes, runs to him and says, you know, you know, Master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But whatever, you know, whatever, you know, whatever God wills, God will give you. It would be a great tr an act of faith. Of course, Mary comes to Jesus, Mary uh the the uh sister of Martha says the same thing. And then Jesus weeps, right? And Jesus wept is like the most one of the most profound, you know, uh verses in sacred scripture. Because you see, when he's with the apostles and he's like two or three days away, it's it's he's there's a kind of an intellectual kind of thing happening, like this, you know, this is happening because of the glory of God, but then he's faced with the reality of how this is affecting people, then you see how his emotion how the emotions are in play. So I th I find this very fascinating from that perspective, how the how how the coordination of his humanity, his divinity are happening in this in this grospel passage. And you have, of course, um, you know, then you know this crying is not just crying because they're because of the missing his friend, the death of Lazarus, and the sadness of his sisters and of his friends and family, but then he knows that this is the effect of sin. Right? Why has he come on earth is to could is to save us from sin, to save us from death. So there's a I think that crying is like this, this he has come to fix this problem. And he sees how that how sin is uh as affecting not only how it affects mankind in general, but also in specific instances, right, and how it affects him. There's like multi-layers of sadness going on in this crying, and in this when when he weeps for for Lazarus. Um then we see the great sign of um Lazarus being raised from the from the dead. So, and of course, that is an act of divine power. So not only does Jesus work miracles, but he also there are statements which we can look at that what which do make a claim, he makes a claim on his divine sonship. Because he'll talk about my heaven, like my father, right? So he's constantly referring to God as his father, that is a constant throughout the gospels, right? So does that help with that uh since we're working on right, so if he's claiming he's saying referring to God as his father, right? He's making a specific um specific claim. And I think and again, saying, you know, be you know, forgiving sins is a prerogative of God alone. Right, calling himself the Son of Man, referring to Daniel chapter 7, um, you know, the uh the um the I am statements in John's gospel, right? The and the so these are profound statements and claims of of divinity that are that are not phrased in say modern, you know, modern language. Because remember, he's using where he's we're we're dealing with a different across cultural ancient context. He's likely colloquial probably speaking Aramaic most of the time. He would have known Hebrew Aramaic. Maybe you know, maybe there would have been some some Koine Greek floating around. Um, of course, on the order of his divinity, he could speak any language he wants, right? So all right. How about okay, yeah, go ahead, what you have today? So we'll I know this will be this will be coming in the future, but let's break down what the incarnation and what and what's going on because I think maybe we have this all. So we we're we all under so we understand Jesus is God and man. So one divine person with two natures. So a human nature and a divine nature, right? He has so he has a and he also has a body and a soul, okay, and is united to his divinity. In fact, in your in your one of the definitions you have, right, is right in one person, right? It says hypostasis, right? Is in here. So that's if you're looking for definitions, right? 74 and 75 Hall of these definitions, which can be helpful. So uh it's called the hypostatic union. So he has a vine intellect and a human intellect, a divine will and a human will. And so those are all coordinated in the one divine person. An example of this is in the Garden of Gethsemane, right? When he's praying to his father and he's saying, Father, not my will but thine be done, right? Let this cup pass from me. Now, he's already set things in motion with when he had instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper.

unknown 15:56

Right?

SPEAKER_01 15:56

The Paschal mystery is already, he is already, that those wheels are already in motion. But when he prays that, what's going on is that his human will is being coordinated with the divine will. Okay. Does that make sense?

unknown 16:10

It does. It's just really hard to represent.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Yeah, well, that's why we call it a mystery. Right? It's a truth that we cannot completely comprehend. You know, a mystery. So it's hard, yeah, it's hard for us to understand how this is working. But this is what we this is what has been established, you know, uh when we reflecting on the deposit of faith, the sacred scriptures, that what we've been what we've been given and what the early church, what the church fathers have come to know. Um so I'm trying to get back at that um that question. So when he says it's not mine to give, remember, of course, he's speak, you know, that's where the divinity is coming in. Right? Talking about now, it sort of makes sense because um, you know, when we talk about um the place at the right of our Lord, right, who who is so in which Psalm is it? I forget what I think it's is it's Psalm is in the marriage of the king. I think it's Psalm 45, where the queen stands at the right hand of the king, the mother. So the in ancient Israel, the mother of the king is the is the is the queen, and and she's the one who you go ask for things from. So Mary's supposed to be in that spot. See, that makes sense. So so it's that so that in a certain sense it's like, well, because Jesus is the Davidic king, so who's supposed to stand or at his right hand would be to intercede for the peop the the church would be Mary. So I love I love because Mark points out that it was their mother that pointed that that it asked them, which I think is really funny, you know, that she's like, come on, mom, come on, ask, ask Jesus for this, come on, come here. And that there's a whole conversation then about, you know, are you willing to undergo the baptism that I'm about to undergo, right? The suffering that he's about to undergo, and I think they may have an idea, yeah, we're gonna go, you know, be in those battles and fight for you and kick the Romans out, and I don't think they realize what they were asking for. So they realize you're talking about martyrdom. So that's a whole different, a whole different thing. So is now is that a little helpful? That makes sense, does that kind of maybe help you with that passage? Okay, you had something going on. Oh my god, my god, why have you abandoned me? So if you read Psalm 22, that's that's he's quoting Psalm 22, and if you read that Psalm in its entirety, so if you were to go to that, so so or 21, depending on yeah, depending on what which how you count, you know, like if you're in a dua reams, that's like that's that's um it's 21, I think. Depending on what good because you uh how they split things up. So it starts out, oh god, oh God, my God, look upon me. Oh, that's not okay. Let me see. Yeah, it's oh this is the yeah, this is the um more the the um this is the Dewey Rems la translation of Latin Vulgate. O God, my God, look upon me, why hast thou forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins. O my God, I shall cry by day and thou will not hear, and by night and it shall be not be refuted as folly in me. But thou dwellest in the holy place the praise of Israel, and thee have our fathers hoped, they have hoped, and thou hast delivered them. They cried to thee, and they were saved, they trusted in thee and were not confounded. But I am a worm and no man, the reproach of men, the outcast of the people. And they that saw me have laughed me, to scorn, he have spoken with the lips and wagged the head. He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him save him, seeing he delighteth in him. For thou art he that hast drawn me out of the womb, my hope from the breasts of my mother. I was cast upon thee from the womb, from my mother's womb, thou art my God. Depart not from me, for tribulation is very near, for there is none to help me. Many calves have surrounded me, fat bulls have besieged me, they have opened their mouths against me as a lion ravening and roaring. I am poured out like water, all my bones are scattered, my heart has become like wax melting in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a pot shred, and my tongue hath cleaved to my jaws, and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death. For many dogs have encompassed me, the council of the malignant hath besieged me, and they have dug my hands, my hands and my feet. They have numbered all my bones, and they have looked and stared upon me. They parted my garments amongst them, and upon my vesture they cast lots. But thou, O Lord, remove not thy help from a distance from me, and look towards my defence. Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword, my only one from the hand of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth and my and my lowliness from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare thy name to my brethren in the midst of the church I will praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him while he's the seed of Jacob, glorify him. Let all the seed of Israel fear him, because he hath not slighted nor despised the supplication of the poor man. Neither hath he turned away his face from me, and when I cried to him he heard me. With thee is my praise in the great church, I will pay my vows in the sight of them that fear him. The poor shall eat how And be filled, and they shall praise the Lord that seek him, their hearts shall live for ever and ever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and shall be converted to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and he shall have dominion over the nations. All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and have adored, all that they go down to the earth shall fall before him. To him my soul shall live, and my seed shall serve him. He shall be declared to the Lord a generation to come, and the heaven shall show forth his justice to a people that shall be born which the Lord hath made. So if you go through Psalm 22, you see there's this lament that goes, and of course, some of those things are prophetic with regards to our Lord's passion. Of course, he's nailed to the cross. If thou the Son of God, come down from this cross, right? So we see the prophetic nature of Psalm 22, and then at the very end, there's this very triumphant ending. So something has gone, something has changed in the Psalm. So by Jesus quoting this the first two lines of the Psalm, remember when He's when he's doing this, if you remember if you went to the Strat of Turin presentation, that he's literally in agonizing pain to push himself with his feet, which is nailed to the cross, to push his body up so that he can breathe and be able to utter these words. To be able to say just those first two lines. Like this, when we think of the seven last words, every word of those a sentence of seven last words, he has to pull himself up in agonizing pain in order for his diaphragm to open up to be able to say these words. So if you look at the the entirety of the psalm, you'll see what he's saying. Because now I would I would say that the passion, that his union with with the Father is now expressed in pain rather than in delight. I guess maybe that would be a way of expressing that, right? So the the the union with with God the Father is now a union of extreme suffering on behalf of our on behalf of mankind. Is that so if you read that psalm, that might make more sense. That basically what Jesus is doing is quoting the psalm. If you read the whole thing, if you look at those things that happen at the end, and the not only the seed of Israel will fear him, but then there's all the nations. For the kingdom uh is the Lord's, and he shall have dominion over the nations, over the Gentiles. Yeah, it's really a statement of the Yeah, it's we read the psalm, read the entire psalm, and then you see it's there's there's uh he what he's do what's going on in the psalm is describing what's happening. And you could see that the abandonment is is not a an abandonment of God the Father, right? It is it is in a sense, it is Gwenny quoting the psalm, but in a sense, it is right, he's suffering on behalf of man, right? It's that cry of man who who has separated himself from God, right? So so which I think we don't we uh we don't want to make that the theologians have gone back and forth of what does this phrase mean? Um what what is going on here? It's not that the father has abandoned the son, that's impossible based on what we're learned about the Trinity. Jesus is united, right, in his incarnation, right, as the divine, you know, Son of God, that he's always in union with the Father. There's no like, you can't, that's not there's no separation there. Okay. So Psalm twenty-two helps with that, yeah. Yeah, when you and you read the psalm, you see it means a whole lot a whole lot more when you read the psalm. True, yeah. I think we could go with that. Okay. So I know that's a all mystery. Oh yeah, go ahead, yeah. Literally, how do we deal with the panhandling situation? Uh Route One is kind of rife with that, too. You know, um uh that is a difficult question. I you know, one of the things uh that's why I think like our United Community uh you know partnership is so important because they you know like we have the food drive and and it and and of course there's other ways in which people can support because that because they really do support the local you know community, you know, the the the Hybla Valley, Groveton, like this this area of Fairfax County. So, first of all, that's that's you know, of course, Catholic charities of the Diocese of Arlington, right? Of course, um so another plug for the Bishop's Lenten Appeal, because I they do a lot, so um Catholic charities is part of that. So, first of all, I think we can we can look at and there's also volunteer opportunities for organizations such as this, right? So we can have opportunities to do direct service because it's what's really good about these these if you're volunteering and you're in a that people have developed a set of skills to help understand like how to serve people best. Um because I know there's some concern which would be legitimately, you know, about well, if I'm giving money to someone, what are they gonna use the money for? You know, is the money gonna go to drug use or alcohol? Um, are they gonna really use it? So sometimes I think a good uh if you're if you want to help someone maybe in that situation, it might be good to buy a bunch of gift cards to, let's say, McDonald's or something, where you could give them something where they can only redeem it for food. Now, I don't know if that, you know, how that that's like a me, at least I don't know if there's like a black market for gift cards, for example, but I don't know that. So I'm not I'm not in tune with that community. You have to ask people who like in the St. Vincent de Paul Society or or that's another group that we have, like the St. Vincent de Paul Society does some fantastic things. They really help the priests out. Or St. Vincent de Paul Society, we get calls or somebody comes in and they want, they need that, they need a bill paid, or like, for example, have a uh rent payment, electric bill, uh, water bill, these sorts of things, then they'll meet with the person and actually have a conversation and sort out, okay, can we help this person? Because working with the poor is a very difficult business. Because people have not only do they have um their their own their poverty needs, but there might be other needs that are present. And so it's a it's a it's a it's a it difficult world to navigate. I know when I you know when I was at uh All Saints, you know, we would have you know we give out you know food cards, you know, and so that you know, and we had like you can only get one food card a month and somebody try to game the system and show up twice. I mean like sorry, no. Um you've got to come back after the you know first of the month comes over. Um because what it does for us is that it really helps. Like same things at the Paul Society, United Community Catholic Charities, people like this, they help really help us out because then we don't we're not becoming glorified social workers, right? Um so there's a lot there's a lot of goodness there. Um so I would I would say one way that you could sort of channel when you if you know where your you definitely know where your money's going, then those should be places where you could either volunteer, help, or you know, uh, and donate, right? So a United Community, Catholic Charities, St. Vincent DePaul Society, and St. Vincent DePaul Society is always looking for new people to help. So um, and uh Larry Ferguson, who's been doing that for years. You know, anytime I get an email or phone call from someone who's looking for assistance, I go to him and he's usually sometimes he even knows the person already, or he's already, he'll take care of it. So they do fantastic work in our parish. Um and I, you know, the people don't really, I think, know enough about them or really they're not highly visible, so I'd highly I'd like to give them a shout-out, so to speak, since this is go this will probably go out on the internet. So thank you, Larry. You know, thank you. Does that help a little bit? Okay, so if yeah, because it's I understand that. Because it's a hard, it's a hard thing as you um I I think you have to develop a skill set to some folks to know how to help them. You know. Because it's it it's it the this the type of poverty we have here is different than let's say the poverty you go to set you know, you know, you know, Central America or South America in a different place. I've been to Peru three times. Now Father Harry did a you know, he he did he was in Bonica for a many years. So he knows how he knows poverty. Um it's it's different because you know we have uh you know we have a we have a social welfare network, and a lot of times some folks, they unfortunately have gotten to the point in their life where they have to manip they feel like they have to manipulate people in order to get what they want. And that becomes a thing. So that's why it becomes very difficult to that's why I that's what I struggle with that too. So I'm so I don't want to sound like I'm you know, I know the answer, right? Like I'm I'm not omniscient. That's one of the definitions basically in the chapter box omniscience, all knowing that's one of the attributes of God. Okay, that's on page 75. So if I'm referring to this, there you go. Refer back to the book. So um so yeah, so that might be something that might be a you know, a good conversation with Larry or um, you know, um from St. Vincent de Paul Society and get a good perspective for people who've been you know on the ground. I know one family that they they've been doing, they've they the husband's working with St. Vincent de Paul and the wife works that does been going to Christ's house. Like their family has like a service charism, which I think is so beautiful. So um they're trying to help people. So I I would maybe that would be sort of a look into those, and maybe I would encourage you maybe uh volunteering or you know, helping out with that in some way. That might so that you'll get more experience and knowledge in that area, and then I'll then you'll feel better. And maybe maybe help you feel better. Okay, yeah, do you have a question?

SPEAKER_07 35:29

I thought that that's my way of eating, that my way of carrying.

SPEAKER_01 35:34

Yeah, so time, talent, and treasure, you know, can be is uh, you know, and we talk about that in um when you when you talk about um in a parish community, we talk about, well, what can people give, right? So of course, you know, I you know, we have the treasure is something we all we all are very familiar with, right? Another plug for the Bishop's Lutton Appeal, okay, and and your and your weekly collection, but also time, right? So, you know, we have so many people who volunteer. You know, I I think of some really, you know, some really great parishioners who, you know, who they're just constantly doing things for the church. It's just a passion for them. And I'm very impressed. Like people have been in this, you've been in this parish community 20, 30, 40 years, and like they've made it their mission to to support the parish. And that to them it's it's just it comes so natural to them. Um so it's really impressive to see um how people are so generous with their talent and time. Um because we you know, as a parish, you know, it's that's where you know as a that's where we see the mystical body of Christ at work, where we see uh at the whole community working together and and not only worshiping together, but supporting one another in the faith. So um indeed the genius of of the church, right, as as the mystical body of Christ. Various people with various talents, you know. Um I always find it fascinating in the in the Old Testament when uh you know the Lord is instructing Moses about about these special special men who know how to do all this all this special work to make the Ark of the Covenant and the Tent of Meeting, and they know how to do gold and fabric and names all I forget all the names of the guys, right? But I find that fascinating. It just happened to be, oh, you've got these skilled artisans who can help you build the the Ark of the Covenant, right? And help you build the tent of meeting, and helped build the altar and provide all of that. And so that's it, so the the mystical body of Christ, you know, in supporting one another, that's really important. So all right. So thanks for the diversion, right? And I snuck in a vocabulary word, so that's really good. We got omnisci in there. Okay, there'll be a test later. All right, so who else is uh has got curiosity b butting in their soul? All right, yeah, go ahead. It's not confession.

SPEAKER_06 38:06

It's not like a checklist.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

Right. So So let's yeah, we're talking about Lent, and we're talking about okay, how do we not make this the checklist, or how do I not not competing with my friends about what I'm giving up for Lent? Right? Do we all have that competition?

SPEAKER_00 38:44

I'm giving up this for Lent. What are you giving up? Yes. Yes. I'm holier than you because I gave up chocolate for the entirety of Lent. Are not I wonderful, right? That's not what Jesus wants, right?

SPEAKER_01 38:58

So when we think of, okay, right, we have fasting, almsgiving, right, and charity, which we just talked about, right? Or actually, no, we talked about fasting, almsgiving, right? Prayer. I'm sorry. We just talked about a lot of almsgiving. Um so think of it as it's it's the yearly reminder of us to reflect on our need for repentance and growing in closer union with the Lord. Okay. So instead, I know for um, like for example, for the when I when I talk to kids, I do say, if you're gonna give up chocolate for Lent, don't eat the chocolate bunny hole on Easter Sunday. Because what are you trying to do? Well, you're trying to moderate your appetite for chocolate, and like I just said, you make it kind of a competition, right? I don't have the chocolate, and then I just gorge myself on Easter Sunday, and then that's gone. Then it's like, oh, I can just go back to doing whatever. I'm eating the chocolate bunny and the tasty cakes and the Drake's cakes and the chocolate chip cookies and all of that, right? Like Cookie Monster, right? Um, we're back to Cookie Monster. What are we doing, right? That's what we like, that's a Philly saying. What are we doing, right? So what what are what so what is so so if we're trying to avoid the checklist mentality, it's first and foremost, it's what do I need? What is in what have I discerned that in my what are my predominant sins would be a good question. What are my predominant sins? What are the things that I do that I keep going to confession for, or the things or my or things that I I kind of wince every time I I do them, right? So let's say um, you know, for many families, for parents, it's how you maybe like how how I discipline the kids? Like, I yell am I yelling too much? Am I yelling across the room? You know, can I do a better job? You know, because disciplining kids is something that should happen, but can it be done in a better way? Can I motivate the kids in a gentler way, for example? So your resolution might be, well, you know what, instead of being in the kitchen and barking orders from two rooms over, I'm actually going to stop what I'm doing in the kitchen. I'm gonna go over to the kids, I'm gonna say, Hi, I want you to pick up that toy, put that in the because we have to have dinner, put that in the toy box, right? So, like, so you're you're thinking of what are concrete things I can do that attack the thing or work on the thing. Of course, this is all under you know, remember, grace, we want operative. So, for example, you know, um we're cooperating with God's grace. So we're hoping these are grace-inspired resolutions, right? And that we're trying to be intentional about these things. Right? So, how do we um, you know, are we moderating? Are we legitimately moderating? Like, for example, if you're a big pizza fan and you know that when you go to the pizza place, you're gonna have four slices, and you're like, no, I can't do that, right? Um maybe you avoid the pizza place altogether, or maybe you um order something different for the menu or something, you know. You know, or you try to can you try to trick yourself by ordering the low-gluten pizza. I'm just kidding. Or you get the impossible burger from Burger King, I'm just kidding, right? You know, so uh because you know, Jesus says if you want to, if you want to, you know, if your eye causes you to sin, cut it out. Now, he doesn't mean literally go, you know, rip your eye out. What he means is that if we're going to deal with sin, we can't be halfway. We have to go, you know, okay, let's let's not go to the pizza place altogether if we're gonna overindulge in pizza. But the point of it is that the point of all of that is not just to have the boastful thing, hey, look what I did, I overcame this. It's how does that draw us closer to the Lord? So if you're gonna do an extra prayer thing, is that something that's gonna produe after Lent? If I'm giving up something for Lent, is that something I can moderate afterward? Because restraint of appetites also means that I can sharpen my ability to resist sin. Because most a lot of sin is like satisfying my appetites over and against reason. So if I can restrain my appetite for the chocolate bunny, for example, on Easter Sunday, then does that mean do I have a greater willpower to be able to overcome other temptations to sin? Okay? And it's so and in the prayer and the almsgiving are, I guess, again, oriented towards you know, making conforming ourselves to Christ. Right? So think of it more of how do I conforming myself to Christ in these 40 days rather than I'm in the competition for who has the who has the coolest resolution for Lent. Does that make sense? Does that help a little bit? You have more questions? Feel free. Is that okay? Or is that an acceptable answer? I say I'm trying to provide good customer service, so I don't want to have. Don't think just because I'm a priest, I you know, I'm a priest full of holes. I like to say that a lot. So yeah. You know, that you I hope you get the joke. It may go over your head. But anyway. Uh so who else uh anything else who else has got some curiosities floating about? Yeah, go ahead. Oh, let's see where we go. So we have to go to the let's see. Uh is that nine? We'll have to find try to find we'll have, let's see, at the end of nine. Okay. I'm looking at uh what's him. Oh, I see, okay. That's right, so all right. All right, so we see, um trying to see what's in there. Okay, that's not at nine. I don't see that at nine. So I'm trying to remember where that's at. If you can find that for me. Again, I'm not omniscient here, so we can go see if we can find where where that came from. Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Alright. Chapter five. Chapter five. Alright, we're a little earlier. Okay. Thank you. All right, and okay, so he sold a piece of land. Okay, so let's see, let's break this down. So he so but a certain man, Ananias, with Sapphira, his wife, sold a piece of land, and by fraud kept pot back part of the price of the land. So he kept some of it. And his wife being privy thereunto, and bringing a certain part of it, laid it all at the feet of the apostles. And Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan tempted thy heart that thou shouldst lie to the Holy Ghost, and by fraud keep part of the price of the land? While is remained, did not remain to thee, to her soul that was not in thy power, why thou hast conceived this thing in thy heart hast not lied to men but to God? And I'm hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost, and there came a great fear upon all that heard it. And the young men rising up, removed him, and carrying him out, buried him. So so it looks like what happened is that they had promised to give the entire proceeds of the land to the to the apostles, and then they held part of it back. They held some of the the um the proceeds back. So it looks like that this would have been um let's think about this. So they may have been become baptized um Christians, um, and then somehow this corruption enters into their hearts where they they basically are scheming to make um uh what looks like a donation to the church that they're profiting off of that. So it must have been a really nice piece of property that they must have had.

SPEAKER_04 48:24

I I'm trying to understand it. Like am I not only giving it?

SPEAKER_01 48:30

Well, we can think of it this way. Is it maybe I th I'm I'm looking at this as as there's uh that there was a scheme behind what was happening. Okay? Like there was some probably a scheme behind this. So think about um uh trying to think of a good um uh so what they were likely likely doing is saying, well, you know what we could do? We've got we can sell this land, and we could tell the apostles that we sold it for one price, and we're gonna keep the rest, and we're gonna we're we'll be able to profit off of the rest of this. Um that they were doing is basically using the church as a means to benefit themselves, is what I would see it as doing. So using so and then that and then also that makes them look good in front of the community. So so there's a lot of maybe there's a lot of elements here. So so that this so I think what the scheme is is somehow they're using this sale of land to make the to to make it look like they're making this big donation to the church, but they're really still profiting off of the land. They're gonna profit off it and they'll be able to keep a lot of money. It's supposed to have been a really big price. So, and then at the same time, not only do they get to keep the money, but then they're gonna show tell everybody, hey, look at us, we're so wonderful, you know, we donated all this, this big we donated all this to the church. Um so it could be that what's going on is that this is maybe a little bit more to the scheme than we think is going on. Um, you have a question? Yeah. Right. I yeah, I would think something like this, in order to merit the punishment of death, would be that there was a lot more behind what was going on. Maybe being from the Northeast, I see too many of these things. I don't know. You know, maybe I'll watch too many mafia shows or something like that, you know. But that's what I'm thinking is going on. There's kind of a there's I think there's a there's a there's definitely a fraudulent aspect of not only is there fraud, but think about this. When someone gives a lot of money to the church, what what do we tend to do? Like when there's a big donation, you know, you know, they they write the big that big cardboard check and then they have the big photograph, um, you know. And like, look look at me, I'm giving this big amount of money to big nice charity, and I get my picture taken. And now, of course, they didn't have that in the first century, but maybe it could have been a way for them to achieve some kind of standing in the community that they didn't deserve, you see, because this was sort of a you know, hey, look at us moment kind of a thing. Uh so so so I that's how I would view that. Um and and only only God knows the hearts of men. So somehow this was infused knowledge given to Peter um and the other apostles, I guess, that there was this was a a fraud on a um on a scale that merited this.

SPEAKER_04 51:57

So that's yeah, we would have confused prior to that everyone that knows there's uh like the general language and carefully.

SPEAKER_01 52:10

Yeah, and I don't I don't think people would have would have uh if they didn't give everything the apostles, they weren't going to, you know, they were as like we're talking about the honesty part of it. It's not the that's the part of it, it's the honesty, and in the sense of I I think there's that there's that uh use using the church for your own benefit. You know, use the and I think that is um a temptation that we've seen throughout the history of the church. Right? How many how many people have we seen come through the church to have used the church to aggrandize themselves? Right? That come and that that's clergy, lay people, right? We've seen that, we've seen that happen. Because it's a one of the things that I think uh is a temptation when you're doing a lot of good in the church. I think one of the temptations is that you can get your head filled with you know delusions of grandeur, and you think that you're all that. Um we could see uh can uh different examples of of people who have kind of risen to the heights and fallen, you know. Um I think of Father John Carape. You know, have you remember him? He had the like sort of like the uh he was like the Sean Connery of the church. He talked like this, remember, you know, and he would do these big talks. He filled like the Hilton Event Center in Woodbridge, you know. And then he kind of went off the rails. And I understand now he's living a life of parent penance in his community, um uh the uh Society of the Holy Trinity. Um he's now, you know, that he repented from his wayward ways. I mean, but he got he reached out, he had a lot of a lot of uh popularity. People wanted him to come to their town, tell his story, and he's had that, he had that gravitas voice, right? You know. Um and then you know he went off the rails, and now he's back in the church, you know. So we've seen that happen. Sometimes you see these very, you know, um I mean there was a priest in in Miami, he had a great name, Father Cutier. Great name, right? Because Father Cutie, right? And then he ended up like falling off, you know, falling off, you know. Um so I think that's part of the why this is uh is does that help the understanding? Yeah. I think more like you're not gonna fully give and maybe moves to the Well, let's uh let's I I think that's why I think something like something like it isn't that he didn't want to give everything he had, right? It was that there was a there was a lie involved, there was defraud, there was a lie involved, there was a misrepresentation, and what was that gonna do for them? That's what how I'm looking at it, if that explains it a little bit. It makes more sense just to say, please, you know, you know, if I don't give, you know, to the bishop's Latin appeal, right? I'm gonna die, right? You know, so you know, um I don't know if that's gonna make it onto the thing or not. Probably gonna edit it out. So, alright, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 55:09

Safira, the wife, dies later um when the apostles come and question her about it, and she repeats the false Christ about it. I think kind of the purpose of the passage is to be a teaching moment. Because this is a new sort of sin. The church is like in its infancy now at this point in the reading. So it's like saying that defrauding the church is more of a sin.

SPEAKER_01 55:30

Yeah, well, that's what I think is we we want to we want to be careful, you know. Well, that's why litany humility is a really great prayer for priests, too, right? Humility is such an important virtue is to remember that um, you know, there's a I think it was Archbishop Vignera on a apparently a friend of mine told me he said this. He said, You are not the you you weren't you are not the savior and the people are crazy, right? In meaning that as a priest, remember you're the instrument of Christ, you're not Christ himself. You can't, you know, you only Christ saves people. You're the instrument, you're not that, and you know, you have to, you know, um, as a priest, you have to you know remember that is to help you to help you through that. Okay. So I know that's a that's a lot of fun for for the end of chapter Popo Purie as we go through Lent. Okay.

unknown 56:21

Do we have this class next week on Block?

SPEAKER_01 56:24

Oh, well, yeah, I mean, look. That's what do we have class next week? Let me go, let's look at the calendar, my clergy calendar. You'll see, you get you'll get the inside baseball, the priesthood here. Let's see, you can see what's on the clergy calendar. I don't see it on here. Yeah, I don't see it on the calendar. So I'll we'll have to see what Father O'Hare wants to do. Um, because you know, Palm Sunday, because we're coming up on Holy Week. You know we're not having this on Easter Sunday. I hope you don't expect that, right? You should be all eating your chocolate bunnies whole by that point. So okay. Here's a little reference humor for you. All right, let's uh wrap up and pray. Name of the Father, and the Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. Give you thanks Almighty God for all the affections, resolutions, and inspiration you've given us during this time of conversation. We ask your help to put them into effect. Our my good mother, Saint Joseph, our garden angels, intercede for us. Amen. Name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit.

unknown 57:22

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 57:23

Thanks everybody for being here today.