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THE IMPORTANCE OF GOD'S WORD · Padre Alberto (Father Albert)

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  Do you remember the war in Kuwait?
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  Who remembers the war in Kuwait? Some of you are too young.
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  OK, That was the 90s. And I remember I walked into a
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  Christian bookstore. Listen to me, Christian
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  bookstore. Now.
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  I think I was a very young priest.
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  I was here in Fort Lauderdale somewhere and I went to a
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  Christian bookstore not far from here.
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  It doesn't exist anymore, unfortunately, because, you
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  know, Amazon took over the world.
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  But the Christian bookstore, I walked in thinking, you know,
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  I'm going to see Bibles and books about inspiration and
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  spirituality because that's what you do at a Christian bookstore,
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  right? Your spirits lifted up.
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  Wow. When I walked in, huge poster
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  with the face of Saddam Hussein. Scary guy, right?
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  And then there were these books. They were thick like this and
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  look like an encyclopedia thick. And on the front cover was like,
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  you know how the video games now with the kids, you know, the
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  blow up, it was all little bombs and blowing up things and all
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  that. And it was his face again.
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  And it said something about the end.
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  It's near right. The world's going to end.
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  And I remember I didn't read the book because honestly, between
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  you and I, I don't like fear mongers.
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  I don't like and that stuff. But I started flipping through
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  the pages thinking, OK, let's see what this is about.
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  I thought, oh Lord, every page, you know, got uglier and
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  scarier. And I just said, Nah, Albert,
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  that's not what you came here for.
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  I was getting to a Christian bookstore to be lifted up.
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  So when you came to church today, maybe you thought Jesus
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  is going to tell a nice story. Don't you love Jesus stories?
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  I love the prodigal son and I love the the parable, but no
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  Jesus. Jesus words today are kind of
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  scary. Imagine he looks at the
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  beautiful temple, all the stones, and he prophesized that
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  no stone will be left on top of another.
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  Oh, that's scary. Oh, this is going to be
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  destroyed. Who wants to hear that from
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  Jesus? And then he goes even further.
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  He says, you know, you're going to be persecuted, you're going
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  to suffer if you follow me. Who wants to join a sinking
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  ship? So today's gospel is not so easy
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  to hear. And then it talks about
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  insurrections. Sound familiar?
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  Then you hear about, then you hear about things like, what is
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  it? A earthquakes?
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  And we just had a big, big old hurricane, right?
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  And so it's like, man, all that's happening, it almost
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  seems like you're watching Channel 7.
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  Remember Channel 7 at 10:00? I don't know if they still do
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  it. Do they do it?
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  The big show, right? There's a big crash.
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  There's always a big crash in Hialeah or somewhere in the
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  I-95, right, with lots of blood. So today's gospel sounds a
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  little like that, but I have something to share with you.
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  Jesus does not want us to be afraid.
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  It's not really about fear. Today's gospel is really about
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  being prepared. Now I'm kind of like a Frank
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  Sinatra fan. So, you know, I was thinking in
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  my mind, the best is yet to come.
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  But today, today's gospel is like the worst is yet to come.
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  It's tough to hear these words, but Jesus was not just
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  prophesying that the temple will be destroyed, which it was
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  destroyed in the year 70 by the Romans.
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  He's foretelling the fact that the apostles will be persecuted
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  and they were. They shed their blood for Jesus.
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  He's saying that following God's way is not going to be easy in a
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  world that rejects God's way. So people are real worried about
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  the shutdown, right? Oh, government shutdown.
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  Almighty, all powerful US of aid shut down.
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  Lord have mercy. People didn't get their
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  paychecks. It was a mess, People going
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  hungry and all this, all this happening right before
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  Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving got it reopened
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  again. But you know what?
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  I realized after hearing shut down every day several times a
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  day that we already have a bunch of shutdowns in our world.
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  Listen to this. What have I told you?
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  There's a spiritual shutdown. Did you know that a bunch of
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  people have decided they don't need this church stuff?
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  Church is closing. Shut down.
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  Moral shutdown where anything goes all the time, whenever you
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  want, whatever you want. There's a moral shutdown nobody
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  talks about. There's all kinds of crazy
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  shutdowns in our world. So when you look at the words of
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  Jesus, they may not be about the end of the world or, you know,
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  the little book about, you know, this war is it every time
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  there's a war, it's, it's the, you know, the end of the world.
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  Well, I'm here to tell you, it's not that simple.
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  Did you hear what we said at the beginning of this Mass?
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  Did you hear the beginning of those college today's?
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  It's one of those colleagues, right?
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  It makes you kind of think. It says that God gave us the
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  Holy Scriptures, the word of God, the Bible, and that he gave
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  us the Bible for our learning, that we should hear the sacred
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  Scriptures. We should read them, mark them,
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  learn them and inwardly digest them.
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  What if I were to tell you that we live in a world that ignores
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  the Bible, God's holy word? Oh, really, Father?
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  Yeah. I remember being a trustee in
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  the American Bible Society in the year 2000.
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  We were doing a big. I was the first Cuban American
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  to ever be elected to that board, and I was kind of excited
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  about that. But then I started working with
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  them, and then I started hearing choices.
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  Things like, oh, we're doing a survey.
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  We're doing a survey. Really.
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  What? In New York City, they got a
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  microphone and a camera and they went out to Central Park and
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  they would ask people about the Bible.
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  You know what we realized? No matter how highly educated
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  you are in that sophisticated, wonderful city of New York,
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  people didn't know the basics about the Bible.
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  They didn't know the difference between a prophet or an apostle
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  or a disciple. They didn't know the difference
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  between the book of Genesis or the Gospel of Luke.
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  They had no clue about the Old Testament, New Testament, the
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  numbers of books in the Bible, nothing.
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  And I'm here to tell you, not much has changed.
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  We are illiterates, biblical illiterates, and we're
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  Christians and we're, but we never open up our Bibles.
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  You see, we don't take off the dust.
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  Everybody has one, but nobody reads it.
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  And look what the prayer says. Do you hear this, Chaplain?
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  You heard this. They were written for our
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  learning. Grant us to hear, read, Mark,
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  learn and inwardly digest them. That's a lot.
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  That means you have to engage the Bible.
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  My friends, we got to read the Bible.
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  We got to open it up. My challenge to you today is how
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  many minutes a week do you spend reading God's Word, the Holy
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  Bible, and if you knew that in your church, in your little
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  church, little Saint Benedict's, we have two Bible studies a
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  week. Not 1-2, right, Miss Alice?
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  Right, Mr. Jerry? Right.
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  Two. Monday evening at 7:00, Friday
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  morning at 9. You're welcome to come.
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  We want to read God's Bible, God's Word.
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  And we want to know God's Word. Not just because it's the Bible.
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  It's because with God's Word, we know where we need to go.
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  It's God, God's Word that guides us.
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  There are too many Christians who ignore the sacred Scripture.
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  Oh, sure. They're into devotions and
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  little prayers. By the way, there's no prayer
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  that's little. I'm sorry, I misspoke.
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  Say your prayers, OK, but don't stay just with a bunch of little
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  devotions and prayers because you know what?
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  If you're not reading the Bible and you're not opening God's
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  word, you're missing out on a whole lot in your spiritual life
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  as a Christian. Now people complain that the
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  Muslim world is growing. I hear people complain, oh,
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  there's so many Muslims everywhere.
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  Do you know any Muslim that doesn't read the Quran?
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  Because I don't. But I know a bunch of Christians
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  that never cracked this open. So why do we complain?
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  We got to learn, read, open, Mark, all that stuff that that
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  prayer says. I love all that.
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  Do all that right, Mark, learn, read.
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  It's a lot, even for a guy from Manchester.
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  Chaplain, stand up, please. I didn't introduce you properly.
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  This is this is Chaplain Rupert Blondley wrongly from
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  Manchester, from the UK. Can you give him a big thing
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  Banner's welcome? He works with food for the poor,
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  does very special work and he's going to talk to us a little bit
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  about what's going on over there, especially in Jamaica.
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  But listen to this. What if I were to tell you that
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  the world could be changed, transformed, if every Christian
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  took this seriously? If, if we tried, I'm not talking
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  about we're not angels. We're all sinners, right?
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  We all fall short. We all fall short.
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  If you think, by the way, you're really saintly and all that,
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  you're in the wrong church. Go find yourself a saintly
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  church. This ain't a saintly church.
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  There's a church about Jesus. We're about Jesus.
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  And, and, and in the Jesus church, we realized that the
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  Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
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  He was born here. He was born in a messy stable.
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  You know that, you know the Blessed Virgin Mary in Saint
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  Joseph went to a stable to give birth to the King of Kings.
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  But you know why? Because nobody would let them
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  into a decent place. There were no five star hotels
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  available and he had to go to messy place with messy, messy
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  animals. But you know what?
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  That's the kind of God we serve, the God that is not afraid of
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  the mess. Why are you afraid of the mess?
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  Every time you watch the news and you see the crazy news and
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  they're crazy and you watch the whole thing, you're like, men,
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  can this get any crazier? I'm here to tell you, yes, it
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  can. Listen to today's gospel, Luke
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  21, five through 19. Read it again.
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  Listen to what Jesus is telling us Jesus is saying.
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  You know what, Things will get messy.
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  If we have God's word to read, to learn, to mark, to study, to
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  inwardly digest, it will guide us through the mess.
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  So what are you attached to? What really matters to you?
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  Human institutions. They all go.
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  Don't put your heart on human institutions.
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  Don't expect the Congress to vote and solve all your
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  problems. That big temple fell.
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  Yep, trust in God #2 expect trials and tribulations.
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  If you're following Jesus because you know you don't
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  follow Jesus, you go with the flow.
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  Oh, you go with the flow. Everything's so nice,
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  everything's OK. Oh, nothing offends you.
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  You can be as vulgar as you want.
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  You can be as nasty as you want. Everything's OK because you know
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  what? There's no criteria to follow.
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  There's no moral compass. Anything goes.
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  But if you choose to be different, if you choose to go
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  against the flow, if you choose to follow God's way, expect
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  trials and tribulations. It wasn't Father Albert who said
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  that Jesus said that trust in God's provision in difficult
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  moments. Aha.
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  Do we worry more than we trust? Oh, that's a hard one.
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  Do we worry more than we trust? Because when we worry more than
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  we trust, we forgot about God. Don't leave God out of your
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  worry. Don't leave God out of your
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  preoccupations. Don't leave God somewhere else.
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  No, no. When you begin to worry, that's
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  the moment you need faith. I think I've told you this
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  before. I always said in the Spanish
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  service, because Cubans and Latinos in general have this
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  thing that they say. I can't stand when I hear that,
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  Father, I've lost my faith. My first reaction is where'd you
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  leave it? Right.
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  Where'd you leave your faith? Because that I know of.
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  You can't lose. Can you lose faith, Chaplain
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  Rupert? You think you can lose it?
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  I don't think you can lose it. You can get distracted, but you
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  know, God's always there. God's God's always there.
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  We're the ones that are not there.
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  We're the ones that get lost and lose our faith.
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  So when you begin to worry, make sure your worry is not bigger
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  than your faith. Make sure your worry is not
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  bigger than your trust in God because God will make it better.
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  And then it says here, cultivate endurance.
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  I love this. In other words, Jesus said, we
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  just heard it in today's gospel, by your endurance, you will gain
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  your lives if you stick to God, if you stick to God through
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  thick and thin. God has taught me this in my
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  life. And as I'm getting older and I
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  am getting older, Yeah, I am. I'm getting I'm hitting 60 and
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  I'm in that part of 56 is beginning to feel like 60.
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  And I realized now that you know, if you endure, if you
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  stick to God, God always is with us.
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  But you, if you endure in the right path of path of faith, no
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  matter how difficult it is, God's always got your back.
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  Endure, stay there, steadfast faith, focus.
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  And this last one is very important.
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  Prioritize the heart and genuine devotion to God.
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  In other words, make sure your faith is real, is genuine.
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  And for faith to be real has to be demonstrated with love, with
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  compassion, with a sense of justice.
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  But it also has to be accompanied by religious
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  practice. Too many people are playing
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  soccer today instead of being here on Sunday.
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  Too many people are distracted shopping today instead of
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  worshipping today. Too many people have made other
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  things their God. And what I'm here to tell you is
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  it's practical faith where instead of the comfort of
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  sleeping in, I get myself up and I go.
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  Instead of just doing whatever comes natural, I've decided that
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  God matters. Yesterday, I preached at a men's
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  prayer breakfast, and I shared with them a story that is very
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  Miami. So I grew up in Miami.
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  If you're in Key West, they call it Miami, Miami.
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  And I was a Deacon in Key West. I remember, Father, you went to
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  Miami. I'm going to tell you this.
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  When I was a little boy, everyone in my neighborhood
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  would get on their boat. It's very Cuban thing to do on
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  Sunday morning and go to the Keys.
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  And this is how they say it. Babu Alokayo, we're going to the
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  Keys. And they would always say,
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  Albert, you want to come to the Keys?
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  And little Albert, I'd love to go to the Keys.
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  And I will go tell my mom and my dad, Hey, Fulanito de Tal, Joe
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  Blow, the neighbor is going to the Keys.
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  Oh, that's great. What time?
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  Oh, they're leaving at 8:00 in the morning.
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  No, in this house, we go to church.
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  And after we go to church, you can go to the Keys.
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  Of course, at 11/30, 12:00, they're long gone.
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  So guess who never went to the Keys in a freaking boat with the
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  neighbor? First time I went to the Keys
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  was when the Archbishop assigned me to be the Deacon at Saint
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  Mary's Star of the Sea in Key West.
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  That's when I went to Keith to the Keys.
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  But I share the story with you because today, everything comes
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  first, before worship. Most of our people are living as
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  if worship does not matter and I praise God.
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  I thank God for my mom and dad. They get God gave me the best
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  mother and father in the world. I praise God for them because
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  they taught me God came first. And I'm going to tell you this,
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  I was a DJI, used to get up, get home at 5:00 in the morning and
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  I'd be at church the next morning no matter what time I
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  got home. Now kids have every excuse in
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  the world not to go. I'm fascinated by that.
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  But I want I say this to you. I'm not the example of anything,
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  but I say this to you just so you understand that God matters.
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  But we got to make God matter. Parents, grandparents, make sure
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  everybody knows you know what God matters and the word of God
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  matters. We've got to pay attention to
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  that. Jesus doesn't want you to be
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  afraid. Jesus wants you to be prepared.
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  How are you going to be spiritually prepared to meet Him
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  if you just don't really know Him?
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  We cannot continue to be biblical illiterates.
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  The great Saint Jerome said it years and years ago, the first
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  one to translate the Bible to the language of the people.
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  He said ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.
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  Read the Bible, open it up, take off the dust, let God's word
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  guide your life and things will change and the world will
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  change. In the name of God the Father,
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  Son and Holy Spirit, Amen. So we can this.
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  This was a little longer version in the 8:00.