Class 1: Introduction - What is Holiness? (Part I)

The first class in our 3 year series, Come and See: A Graduate Level Course in Theology. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_09 0:00

Alright, well, welcome. We'll begin class with a prayer. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If you know this prayer, you can join me in saying it. If not, just listen and learn it. Next for an extra change. 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 you shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray. O God, it does instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us by that same Spirit to be truly wise and ever to rejoice in his consolation through the same Christ our Lord.

unknown 0:35

Amen.

SPEAKER_09 0:36

In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Well, welcome all of you. I'm really excited. Sunday is a great day for going deeper, right? Some of you are at Mass just now, and you're the grace of God is in you through prayer. But there's a lot of hunger. Notice the number of people here today, right? So there's a lot of hunger for going deeper than just what a homily can do, right? You'll notice that this tripod is set up, so we'll have video recordings of each class. So as I explain, this is a three-year course that begins today. 605 pages. Three years, 600 pages, but at the end of 600 pages in three years, you will have a confidence and a competence in the areas of faith that you've never had before. And as I said last week in announcing, I guarantee you, I'm gonna say a little dramatic, I guarantee you that there are heresies living in your head. Not intensive, of course, but heresy, we use that word, it sounds like a charge word. Heresy just means wrong thinking about some matter. I guarantee you that at some point along the way, through the 605 pages, you'll say, I did not think that way. Literally, but you'll be my mind did not see it that way. Now I know the right way of thinking. St. Paul talks about be transformed by the renewal of your mind. So this class is not about becoming smarter. Okay? Anybody can do that, right? Anyone can read books and become smarter. There's nothing wrong with becoming smarter. This is the renewal of your mind, right? The truth has a grace attached to it. One of my professors in seminary said that. I always remember that phrase. Truth hasn't a grace out there. Truth has a grace attached to it. Just speaking, hearing, reading truth, there's a grace in that, because God is true, right? He's not the way, the truth, and the light. So I look forward to experiencing this with you, right? Because when you teach, you learn too. So I have a lot to learn. That's the beautiful thing about theology, is it's really endless, right? The study of God, how could that be sort of ever complete, right? So the study of truth is just such a gift for the teacher and for you as the students. So the way this class will operate, these books are, I think it was like $45 each that we purchased, even books. So the cost for you to own one would be $50, just round up to $50. So I trust you, if you're not going to pay today, you can pay next week or in the future, right? So if you want to pay today after math, after class, the square, you know, electronic devices there, you can take care of it today if you want to. Otherwise, bring a check next week or cash, whatever. But I'm not too concerned about the payment element today just when I get the class launched. We will always have a supply of these books for anybody who just shows up, right? This class is open to all. You don't have to come to every single class because there's as many as you can, right? So this will be an adult learning opportunity for anyone who wants to learn, whatever level of knowledge they have. So we'll always have a supply of books for anybody who walks in. So you can always invite someone to just say, hey, you know, this, I think you might enjoy this class. In particular, what we're gonna do is provide you in advance, like what topics for each session, right? So you might think, you know what, my friend, my family member would really like learning about that. And that's the topic on you know, September 28th, whatever it might be, right? So we'll provide that opportunity to know what's coming. And it's really gonna be this to be really clear. This book is excellent, right? I don't need to be creative. Like this book is really, really good. Um, so really what you're gonna find happens in each class is with my guidance or Father Thompson's guidance, we're gonna go through the content, probably about two or three pages in the class. That's really all you can cover, because we're really gonna cover it. We're not gonna skip or omit. Like, we're really gonna go from cover to cover, because it's really contained here. So, speaking of cover to cover, take a look at this book, because the very design of this book is instructive to say that. By the way, if you don't want to be on the video, just make sure you don't sit around. If you want to be, sit.

SPEAKER_04 4:58

It's the back of your head, so it shouldn't be an issue.

SPEAKER_09 5:01

Okay. Um, and what more practical thing? Normally, this class will be in the cafeteria with these same tables and chairs. We won't use the cafeteria table, that's for kids, right? So normally we'll be in the cafeteria. We'll have the coffee and tea right there today because we can't cake breakfast, we're in here, right? So just you're aware that normally it's it's in the cafeteria. So turn to the table of contents. And that's the first thing I want to draw your attention to. There are chairs in that closet in the back. I'm gonna grab a few more. Thank you. And books are here at the table. You just grab the book. So take a look at the table of contents. I'm gonna give you a minute just to look at it yourself. It's one, two, three, four. Six pages. Just kind of browse the chapter headings from beginning to end. So now I'll comment on this. So chapter one, holiness, which I'll say a word about that today. So that's that's there's a reason that's first. Then the revelation of God, right? Who God is, Trinity, salvation history, getting to chapter five, six, seven, eight, nine, the resurrection. So that's salvation history, right? Chapter 10, prayer, broadly speaking, and then the form of prayer we call sacraments, right? So then it goes through each of the sacraments, which is part of the life of prayer. Following that, you enter into morality. You have to believe, you have to pray in order to live, right? So they see the order there belief, prayer, then you can live what the faith teaches. So then the morality section, um, concluding, that's how it concludes, right? What I would say is this. If you're familiar with the catechism of the Catholic Church, wonderful, right? You can pray with this. This is not just like an encyclopedia. You can really just pick a random paragraph and just read it. It's so beautifully written and just pray with it. So the structure of the catechism is very similar to the structure of this textbook. So this the catechism first has the faith, what we teach, what we believe, then it has what we pray, the sacraments, and it has morality, how we live, according to those teachings, and then the fourth section is the life of prayer. Actually, prayer could go everywhere, right? So I like the way this book does it. It kind of puts that section of prayer before the sacraments, because the sacraments are a form of prayer. What I would offer is this. I would say that the catechism, forgive me the comparison, but the catechism would be like um a regular TV. And I would say that this book, Introduction to Catholicism, is like H D. Isn't there another one now? There's something better than H D. What's the new one? Uh UH D.

unknown 8:05

U A or A U.

SPEAKER_09 8:07

What is it? Sorry? Uh A or 4K. See? I knew what it is. This is it's this is that 2K, 8K, 4K thing, right?

SPEAKER_10 8:16

It's not AI.

SPEAKER_09 8:17

It's not AI. So I would just say that this book is a textbook, which is huge in graduate schools of theology across this country. So realize I'm not just sort of speaking boldly, I'm speaking clearly. This is graduate course content, and we will approach it with graduate course kind of seriousness, right? So uh what I think this book does, the way it's written, the way it's designed, the sort of extras thrown in here and there, the structure, um, study questions, etc., I would say it's providing that in a higher level of engagement with the very same content that the catechism contains. So the catechism, of course, is authoritative. This textbook, I would say, draws its content directly from the catechism, as you'll see. So you can have that same kind of confidence in what it's teaching. And if I, if there's anything along the way, then I think it doesn't sort of explain it in a way that I would understand. I would certainly say that. But I'm pretty confident that the smart theologians who did this did a really good job. Let's turn right in now to the um, it's an introduction, it's it's Roman numerals 12, so XII at the bottom, entitled Introduction: A Journey on the Road to Heaven. So we find that page, a journey on the road to heaven. Alpha, you're right in the middle. Why don't you read our first paragraph? Uh yeah, first couple lines. Sure, I comment.

SPEAKER_08 9:53

A journey on the road to heaven. Life is a journey. As part of God's plan, every person appears at a certain time, in a certain place in history, and then leaves at a different time, and usually from a different place. Unfortunately, many people do not understand why they are here in this world and where they are going.

SPEAKER_09 10:14

So very simple thought, right? That Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, you know, the sense of life as a journey, common sense, right? We have to know the destination. You have to know where we're going and why. And so we should not, we don't take that for granted, right? We've, like I said, many of us have heard or been taught things that are just not true. Or maybe we've absorbed things from society at large that are just not true, right? So just digging into the truth is gonna have that grace for you. A better sense, this is a very personal experience. This is not just staying ahead, I'm a smarter person after three years of knowledge. No, it's it's about what life is all about, it's about your life, really. So you've got to have a clearer sense of your purpose, your particular personal purpose through this um digging into the truth of God and the church and our faith. So this is a very um impactful course. It's not just intelligence, it's it's much, much more than that. Um continue.

SPEAKER_10 11:23

Introduction to Catholicism, a complete course that explains the fundamental truths of why we are here and where we are going. It teaches the essentials of the faith with a particular focus on the nature of God and his revelation, our relationship with him. The commandments, the beatitude, the seven sacraments, and the nature of the church. It offers a broad understanding of what it means to live in Catholic faith, and provides a strong foundation for future studies in church history, theology, and spirituality.

SPEAKER_09 11:58

So I'm very excited about that last line, right? That this is going to give you the foundation. Like I said, at the end of three years, there will be no significant topic of our faith that you have not learned or been taught at an adult mature level. So, what does that do for you? It gives you a permanent foundation, right? You could take a course right now at, you know, Christmas College has a graduate school. And there are other, you could go online with different graduate courses, right? But if you took a course right now in church history, or a course in morality, or a course in spirituality, you would certainly learn a lot. But if you didn't have the fundamental tenets and principles clearly understood, there would be some cracks in the building of that, right? Because you might be thinking about certain principles in not exactly the right way, and the other more specific areas of theology would not be exactly clear as they could be, to say that one, right? So I'm very excited about what this is going to do for you long term. This will set you on a path where then you could go deep into because the different areas of theology are systematic, that means sort of just the overall teaching of the church, morality, right? The moral teach of the church, spirituality, a life of prayer and mysticism. Um, and then what's that? And then pastoral, which is you know, sort of a life of service and things like that. So those different areas of theology will make a lot more sense once you've had this foundation. Um to say it that way. Okay. Um someone continue. I'm not looking at the. Kevin! With your beautiful New York accent, I'm from Queens, you know, so I like hearing you talk.

SPEAKER_03 13:49

Every person has been created with an immortal soul which possesses the faculties of reason and free will. Every person is called personally to love and serve God and please or high. The goal of everyone's life is personal sanctity, personal holiness, the ultimate destination of every human desire is heaven. Jesus Christ established his church as the means of salvation for everyone. He sent the Holy Spirit to guarantee that the church will accurately retain and propagate the good news of salvation until the end of time.

SPEAKER_09 14:23

So you remember that the first chapter is about holiness. And I suppose, or I would propose, that even your understanding of that word is probably incomplete, right? For most of us, the instinct when we hear the word holiness is like moral behavior, right? Moral perfection. What a holy God! He always does the right thing. There is an element of morality to holiness for sure, but there's more than that. It's not just moral correct behavior. Holiness is more than that, right? So, and I love this phrase here that the ultimate destination of every human desire is heaven. So, this concept of a journey, right? Life is a journey. Your desires, your God-given human desires, are seeking something, someone, and they're on a journey, shall we? So I love that, like the sense of like the destination, the ultimate goal, the ultimate fulfillment of human desire is holiness, heaven, right? And as I think we'll come to learn, holiness and happiness. True holiness, true happiness are like two sides of the same coin, right? True happiness, true holiness. If you meet a holy person who doesn't look happy, that's not holiness. So holy and happy, right? What's that phrase? Uh Saint Teresa Bagula, God saved me from dour-faced saints. Someone who doesn't look so holy, I'm doesn't look so happy. I'm starting to suspect there's some imperfections in their holiness. Not that they're not trying, right? I'm not judging, right? But the the joy of the gospel, right? That beautiful uh phrase, the joy of the gospel. Um Jesus came and said that your that your joy might be full. He wants our joy to be full. All right, Kathy, you can read our next paragraph. Because again, speaking sort of personal nature of what we're doing in this class, is it's personally impactful. Theologians talk about doing theology on our knees. Beautiful phrase. It was answered on Balthasar. You said that. Theology is done on your knees, right? So this class is also meant to be done on your knees, right? This class will give you content for your mind to bring to prayer and meditation, right? It'll be something to savor, something to ruminate. I love the fact that it'll be a three-year tour, right? That there's no rushing these beautiful, profound truths, and let them just sort of just sort of sit with you for the week. And I would encourage you, you're gonna be tempted, I'm gonna start reading ahead. Okay, you can do that. But I'm not, I'm not gonna read ahead. So each page is rich. Like there's there's no need to rush ahead. That's if your curiosity wants it, that's fine. Your curiosity can do that. But what you're gonna find is that really praying with the two or three pages we covered on Sunday, really letting that be part of your prayer life of the week. And then maybe you'll prepare by reading ahead, but then we're gonna dig into it at a graced level in our class the next Sunday. Now you're praying the next sort of uh piece of the content. So I think you're gonna find that this is really intersecting with your prayer life, right? It will strengthen your prayer life, right? Because having content here, it inspires, it enlightens, it encourages, and it just consumes your attention, and your intent your attention is preparatory to your prayer life, right? So there's so much to be gained by giving effort to the life of the mind, because mind and heart and soul all connected, right?

unknown 18:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_09 18:57

Terry, contribute our next paragraph there.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Every Christian, regardless of his or her state of life, profession, or particular circumstances, is called to holiness, to the fullness of the Christian life, and to the perfection of charity. Jesus Christ Himself exhorted us to seek perfection, the ultimate goal of our call to holiness. You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

SPEAKER_09 19:23

So again, that passage would make much more sense. Right now you're thinking moral perfection. Well, give up now. There's much more to that passage than meeting the eyes. Do we have another chair? Yes? Okay. Okay, and then the last paragraph. John, can you take that? Or for Louise, I think. Please turn ahead to page uh twenty. I'm gonna show you something on page twenty. So from page twenty through twenty-three, just twenty through twenty-two, there's three pages. Take a look at those vocabulary terms there. Some make sense to you, some not as much. So just browse them from page 20 to 22. So, what's gonna happen as you learn your faith more maturely, more intellectually, your vocabulary is gonna change. You're gonna start saying words and phrases because you know what they mean now. They're terms that are the way you think, right? So, for example, if you were to say, how often does the word pilgrim church come off your lips, right? It will start to become a phrase that's just in your language of faith. How often do you use the word apostolate? That word is going to become a phrase, or I'm sorry, that become that'll become a word that's familiar to you and meaningful to you, and not only will it be in your head, but you'll be recognizing, oh, that's an apostolate. Oh, that person is doing his or her apostasy. That word is going to make sense to you, for example. The word holiness, like I said, that's going to have a fuller meaning than probably what it has right now. People of God, sanctifying grace, deposit of faith, magisterium. These words have, some more than others, a rather technical meaning in theology, right? So you're going to develop a vocabulary, which again, you're going to bring that vocabulary not just into your thinking, but into your prayer. So that's going to be a beautiful element of the learning experience, a new, an expanded, and in some cases corrected vocabulary. You might be using some words without that fullest understanding of what those terms mean. So I'll take a moment now. Thoughts, comments. Tell me your perspective coming to this class today. Help me hear from you what you're hoping to experience. Just so I have a sense of the heart of the students here today. So yeah.

unknown 23:08

Hi.

SPEAKER_05 23:08

My name is Nicole Holloway. Our family came into the church three years ago. So just this past week was our three-year anniversary. And so since this course is three years and starting right now, I'm hoping that I can double in the next year of what I've learned in the last three years, which really shouldn't be too hard.

SPEAKER_09 23:26

Very good. Very good. But you came from a Christian background, Mercury. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:31

So which which particular denominations are I was born Lutheran, married Episcopalian, non-denominational churches growing up.

SPEAKER_09 23:38

Yeah, so you had a variety of experience. And I always say this that when someone becomes a Catholic after other Christian dominations in their background, it's completing the faith that they already have, right? It's adding to, it's it's a completion of, it's mostly agreement and completion as opposed to disagreement, right? There are certainly some theological disagreements, of course, right? But um and you'll get even more depth on that on that understanding for yourself.

SPEAKER_05 24:09

Maybe have half as many heresies in my head.

unknown 24:12

There you go.

SPEAKER_09 24:14

We should subtitle this class. Um come and see a heresy reduction experience.

SPEAKER_08 24:23

So for me personally, Father, growing up, uh been a Catholic my whole life, went through CCD, and had uh animosity going to CCD on Saturday mornings when my friends were playing baseball or football. Uh, I was trying, I was trying to figure out how I can ditch at recess with my cousin so we can go to an ice cream or something. So having something built for adults at the college level for us that you're bringing here to St. Louis, to me personally is so needed because I've seen and journeyed with friends who have become Catholic and who have gone through RCIA now called OCIA, and and you have we have the great celebration at the Easter Vigil, and then it's kind of like okay, you're on your own, go find a ministry or apostolate and keep on learning because we have 2,000 years of stuff to learn. Um, but we don't have uh an opportunity on an academic level like you're presenting today. So thank you for that. Thank you for giving us that gift to continue our faith journey because it's an ongoing journey.

unknown 25:25

And so that's it.

SPEAKER_09 25:26

You remind me of a conversation I have. So it was, I think it was when I just got ordained a priest, or I was about to be ordained, a longtime friend of mine. His name is Mariano Diaz Bonia. And Mariano said to me, Dude, father, because we're good friends. It's like, dude, father, like when you get ordained, like, don't forget about us. What he meant by that was don't forget about us, like front pew Catholics. He's like, you priests, you get ordained, and you like just run after law run after lost sheep. And here we are, the apostle sitting in the front row. So this is you see how that that's that's that's remind me of that conversation that the life of priests is very much occupied with um caring for the flock, right? And we should care, but the lost sheep, and try to reach the people who are not strong in their faith. Yeah, very important. You're here because you have some maturity faith already, right? I made that clear, this is not the basics, this is going deep, right? But you are the people in the world who have conversations in your circles of influence, and you are the apostles. You have a you have an important call, and I should tell I should call Mariano, like hey, I'm starting a class because of what you told me, right? Other thoughts, perspective, just for yeah.

SPEAKER_12 26:42

I I went to Catholic grade school in 1960.

SPEAKER_09 26:49

So I probably think a lot of people in this room would say this is a similar thing that there's been a gap, right, for all sorts of reasons. The 60s and 70s were a confusing time, right? So it was some purification, some just humbling of the church, you might say. So I think we're 2025 is a beautiful time theologically to sit out in, right? So there's been um lived experience and there's been engagement with the world, which has ultimately been fruitful, right? Whenever you're gonna engage with the world, there's gonna be some messiness, right? There's always gonna be some struggles and challenges with that. But I think we're we're at a place where we can do that with a little more confidence without as much confusion, right? So yeah, good perspective. Yeah, Kevin. Yeah, there's a lot of um questions, right? So um the intention with this class is that we'll we'll treat the material at a deeper level than just the reading of it, right? Obviously, it's to read for myself or Father Thompson to comment, go deeper, and leave time, probably say the last 10 minutes of each class for maybe rapid-fire questions, right? And I'm gonna tell you something. Some of the questions, my answer would be, I don't know. Let me let me look on, let me get back on that. That's a great question. The priest, being a priest, doesn't mean he has all the answers. By the way, Father Topps is smarter than me. So when we're at the dinner table, I ask him stuff. Like he's really a very smart guy, right? Um, so uh, but knowing where to find answers is obviously part of the gift of our faith, right? Having that uh resource and knowing that it's okay if we don't have all the answers because we know where to go look for them. Other comments or thoughts, which like what's your week? Yes, Eric.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Yeah, well, my thing is start like I'm glad you started this class because I can learn more about my faith. I'm dating someone now that's she was baptized in the she was baptized in the Catholic Church, but I think did go through with um how do you call it with all through with all the sacraments, but then went to another religion. And I'm like, now is the time that I can be reading on this, going to this class and helping her more understand her faith better.

SPEAKER_09 30:07

Yeah, so I think um not every parish has three priests, right? How many parishes across this country have one priest for three parishes, right? So we're so blessed to have the resource of multiple priests so that we can have this class. So I think you're aware of this, but just to say it you know um explicitly, this is a gift not just for you, but it's a gift for others. Anyone in your circle of influence. I guarantee if God's gonna give you a gift, he wants to multiply that gift, right? There's no doubt about that, right? So get ready. God's gonna bring people into your path who are who have a curiosity, who have a question, who have maybe a bad experience, right? And you're gonna be the person that is Jesus to them by way of listening, by way of sharing what you know. You might even be bringing them to a class one morning because they are sincerely curious, right? So this is an opportunity not just for your own growth and faith and holiness, happiness, it's also a gift for you to give to others. One of my favorite quotes of St. Augustine is anything which can be shared is only properly possessed when it is being shared. I'm gonna say that one again because it's such a cool quote. Anything which can be shared is only properly possessed when it is being shared, right? So apply that to the gift of faith, particularly. The faith you possess, you only truly possess it as you share. Yeah, because it can be shared, right? So anything which can be shared is only properly possessed when it is being shared. Beautiful quote. Um let's jump back for our last 10 minutes. And I'm gonna be very prompt because I want to respect your time. So 10 a.m. will start. So again, next Sunday in the cafeteria, you'll find these same tables, and the coffee and tea will be on the counter there in the kitchen. So when Mass is over, you won't meet you won't need me for the first 15 minutes, right? So when Mass is over next week, or if you're showing up just on your own schedule, from 9.45 to 10, the coffee and tea will be there. And then we'll always have a supply of books for anybody new who comes, or if someone from somebody didn't want to buy a book, just wants to use it. The textbook is here every week. So 9.45 to 10, coffee and tea, socializing. I encourage you not to always sit at the same table. You can if you want to work. This is there, there's always a social element to this, which is fun. But I encourage you to mix it up from time to time at least, right? Get to know more people. And at 10 o'clock shark, we'll start the class. At 10:45, it's it's concluded, right? So um there'll be plenty of content from those 45 minutes that you'll be able to take to prayer for the next seven days, right? So that's how we'll operate. Um and your email addresses. Um, I'll keep that as a list so I can just probably send you a syllabus or any kind of notices, things like that. And I'll also be looking for people who want to help with sort of some of the logistics, kind of be almost like a team behind the scenes to help you with stuff that comes up, right? There's always a need for that. Let's let's now go for our last 10 minutes or so to. So page two. You've heard of um Archbishop Fulton Sheen, right? So he's a legendary teacher of the faith. He was a professor of philosophy and theology, uh, a very wise teacher. So the very first theme which you'll bring to your prayer this week is holiness. Because this, again, this class is not about becoming smarter. That's not what it's about. It's about your holiness and happiness, right? So these are uh this is something of a reflection from Venerable Fulton Sheen on this matter of holiness from the perspective he he he he calls it a thirst, right? So the the the desire for holiness is in you. Like a thirst is in you, right? It's undeniable when you become aware of it. So Heather, did you read our first paragraph here with thirst for Christmas? You know about the missionaries of charity, right? Mother Teresa's religious order. So the missionaries of charity um pray very slowly. Just you know, if you've ever gone to the poor Claire's monastery, the Lord be with you and with your spirit. You gotta slow down to pray the Mass and the Poor Claire. So their daily mass is 7 a.m. ends around 7.40, 7.45. Normal daily mass, like 25 minutes, right? So they sing and they chant and they also pray very slowly. The missionaries of charity pray even slower. And by the way, if you didn't know this, but the the language, the universal language of the missionary of charity is English. So whatever whatever country you come from, if you become a nun in the missionaries of charity, you have to learn English, right? That's sort of like their common language they can communicate with each other. So you're always hearing beautiful, usually British accents, right? From wherever they're from, they learn English in a British accent, right? So I had the privilege to submit mass for them when I was in the Dominican Republic. And on every chapel, they usually have very humble, simple chapels. They have a house in DC, for example. Their chapels, simple, right, because they're living the life of poverty, but there are two words always painted on the wall next to the crucifix. Excuse me, and the two words are I thirst. So if you didn't know that, that's huge, that's basically like the motto, you might say. The motto of the missionaries of charity is I thirst. Mother Teresa, and I'm going here because of the idea about holiness. I want to make that clear, right? When we think about who's holy, oh, Mother Teresa, right? Because she, and we think about her moral behavior, right? The love for the sacrificial care for the dying, no question. But what was driving that life of amazing charity, right? Missionaries of charity. What was driving that? What made her holy? She had an experience in prayer, and it was September 10th. She actually identified that was the particular day this she called it inspiration day. The day that she was inspired through a mystical experience in prayer. And what she described later, for many years, she never said what happened. She just said it happened on this day, and it's she called it inspiration day. But she never revealed until the last years of her life exactly what happened. So you can read about that. But anyway, so this deep experience of prayer, what she called Inspiration Day, she said, I had an experience of the thirst of Jesus. So it was an experience of prayer that was the source of this boundless many, many years of charitable living, right? So I want to make it clear, it was not about her willing it and trying harder and trying to be more loving and thinking, how can I love my neighbor better? It was much more a gift that she received. See what I'm saying? So she would even call it, right? Holiness is a gift received, as opposed to something I strive and make happen, right? So she experienced the thirst of Jesus in prayer. The thirst of Jesus for us, ultimately, right? So his thirst, when he's on the cross and says, I thirst. Bishop Sheen is talking about his thirst for return to the Father. Beautiful, right? Sounds sounds like makes a lot of sense that that could be one of the meanings of that. Mother Teresa would offer her her experience of it, is that that's I thirst can also mean I thirst for your heart and soul. And Mother Teresa had lots of writings about just the full meaning of I thirst. So when you're thirsty, if you think about that physically, right? Your whole body is thirsty, right? Like you feel in your whole body, right? Umbe even more than hunger, right? Um so thirst in this analogous sense is really um Jesus' intense almost beyond words. Love for you from the cross. Very fitting to say, right? The feast of the cross. So just just to pray with that this week, that that I thirst is the gift of his love poured into you, right? That's holiness, right? Jesus sort of poured into you. That's that's what holiness is. It's a gift received, right? Um, but it's all about falling in love with him first, right? You're you're you're taken by the love he has for you, and his thirst starts to just invade your heart, mind, and soul. So to have a sense of the, can I say, the receptivity of holiness. Again, that word holiness, it sounds so much like a striving and an effort. Of course there is, there's an element to that. That that's but that's secondary, right? It is firstly a love poured into our hearts, right? St. Paul talks about that. The Holy Spirit is love of God poured into our hearts, right? So there's something of a we receive holiness to say it that way. We receive God's love, God's grace. His thirst for us just sort of uh becomes an experience for us. Why don't we continue? Chuck, can you read our next paragraph?

SPEAKER_06 40:24

Applying that spiritual thirst to our Lord, to ourselves. What is it that we have if we love the Lord? We have a thirst for holiness. We want to be saints, we want to be happy, to be at peace on the inside, to be one with the Father.

SPEAKER_09 40:41

I hope you've had some experience of this when I was about 22. That's when I had a reversion to the Catholic faith. I was wayward in my early college years. And what I can tell you is that I just kind of fell in love with the church, with the faith, with the sacraments, with scripture. And what I can tell you is that I I lived very morally almost without trying. Like it wasn't like I was trying to be holy. It was just a falling in love and just uh a beholding of the beauty of God and the church and the sacraments and all that, the life of prayer. So I hope you've had an experience of that. Where you could felt like this isn't me, it's just like God's grace. I mean, it's just so beautiful to just know the love of God and it's it's real. It's not just, you know, like when you're a kid in CCD class, right? That this is becoming so meaningful. Um so just try to make the point over and over again, right? That try to correct our our thoughts about holiness, and we'll continue to do that, especially in this first chapter. Uh, Sam, can you read our next paragraph there?

SPEAKER_07 41:49

What is sanctity? What is sanctity? Sanctity is Christ living in me, so that his mind possesses my mind, and I am governed by his truth. That's sanctity. He's in my will, and all things that are pleasing to him I do. He's in my body, so that my body becomes a tabernacle.

SPEAKER_09 42:05

So there's a lot to say there. So St. Paul says, it is no longer I who live, it is Christ who lives in me. Maybe that's a good way of thinking about holiness, right? It's not about me, it's about Jesus living in me, right? Um, something else I want to add. We're living in a beautiful time with media giving us experiences of Jesus, right? Jonathan Roomy and the chosen, right? I'm sure you've gotten a lot of inspiration from that. He seems, by the way, himself as a person to be a truly just joyful holy man, right? Um I've heard him speak, and he'll often start his talk like this like, okay, let's let's get something straight here, first of all. TV Jesus? Real Jesus. Because if you're looking at it, like, oh my gosh, it's like I'm seeing Jesus, right? Because it's so engaging, right, to watch those episodes of the chosen. What I would offer is this is that it's not far off, right? The chosen is giving us a dramatic experience of the person of Jesus, right? It's great. And the making the apostles more real, it's very beautiful, right? I'm sure there's some imperfections along the way with you know the creativity involved, but nevertheless, the overall experience is very, very grace-filled. Think of Jesus as the teacher of this class, right? But these are teachings of Jesus through his church. So that what I mean is that that personal engagement, that personal guidance that Jesus offers, he knows how to use human intermediaries for his purposes, right? That's always been his way. We wouldn't do it that way, right? We wouldn't delegate so much. Wouldn't it be better if Jesus was the Pope, right? Would it be better if Jesus was our priest, our parish priest, right? So he's all about human intermediaries. So I would say that learning and coming to a knowledge of theology, it's really ultimately, and we'll believe, we'll feel this, we'll experience this more and more. You're not gonna come away from this class. Ultimately, I'll say this. You won't come away from this class saying, wow, Father Thompson, Father, okay, they are great teachers. I hope you come away from this class, like I really know Jesus and his teachings. That's that's what this is for, right? Like, and you're gonna have a sense that this really is Jesus' teaching, right? So um, what a beautiful time to live in where he's real through the drama of a chosen. And I pray he's gonna become real through the experience of his teachings, right? So that's that's also um what we have to look forward to. And I'll read this last paragraph. Sanctity is not only Christ in me, it's making Christ known to others. It's being lovable, it's making Christ lovable. When others see us, they see Christ. I'm so glad that you're here today. I'm so glad that you've decided. I have a hunger for this, right? Because God is not only gonna bless you in your life of faith, erect your thinking, make you wiser, make you happier. It's gonna overflow, right? The gift of faith, the gift of Christian joy is just gonna overflow from you to others. And I can't wait to hear over the next three years how that's happening. You're gonna tell me, Father, I had this great experience. I talked to my brother the other day. He's probably gonna go back to confession. We can have this great conversation, whatever it might be, right? So, this joy of the gospel that we're all gonna be able to experience the next three years is gonna be an overflowing, apostolic kind of gift. So we'll close in prayer. You're welcome to hang out and chat if you like, in the name of the Father, the Sons, and the Spirits. Well, God, we give you thanks. Everything good comes from you. You are the way, the truth, and the life. We thank you for the teachings of your church. You established the church. You said, This is my church, and the gates of hell should not prevail against it. We thank you that you have called us to be members of your church, to know your truth, to know your love. Thank you in advance for all the graces that have already begun today. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as well as in the beginning of this and shall be. God bless all the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.