Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 118: Jesus The Redeemer, part 4, JESUS OF NAZARETH IS THE REDEEMER OR CHRIST

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Show 118: Jesus The Redeemer, part 4, JESUS OF NAZARETH IS THE REDEEMER OR CHRIST · The Uncensored Catholic

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A Hey, y'all, welcome to today's show. We'll try to pick up
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where we left off yesterday. We'll get to we're talking about Jesus the Redeemer
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in Polish for Rago's book, and we'll get to the next section about that
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very interesting talk about the life of Christ. And it's gonna be a This
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is still gonna be a multi part one. You know, this is going
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to be I guess what now, part three of probably one that's going to
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go about five parts. But we'll start again with radio replies. And the
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Protestant they've been debating, says, your church is doing more to prevent the
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reunion than any other church, saying Catholics are doing more to prevent reunification of
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all Christians in any other church. And they reply, that is a great
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compliment to the Catholic Church when we consider the conditions others lay down on the
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basis of reunion, For it means that she is doing more than any other
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church to keep intact the religion entrusted to her by Christ, and that she
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steadily refuses to let her heart run away with her head by admitting that whatever
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sincere but mistaken men would like to be true is good enough, and that
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what Christ exactly taught does not really matter. You have to remember in debating
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with Protestants, should you engage in such or in meaningful conversation, which is
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actually always better than debate. They're the ones protesting. It is not at
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all appropriate for the Catholic or the Catholic Church to seede to their demands.
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It's for them to reconcile with the Catholic Church, not for the Catholic Church,
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the one Church founded by God, the visible, the city set upon
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the hill, visible for all ages, the one eternal, true fullness of
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the truth to ever change. Because truth and error cannot mix. They have
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to come to us. That's why we should never be defensive. They attack,
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they're protesting, they're Protestant. We have to learn to defend our faith
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in a charitable way with facts and historical evidence and explain to them why they
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are wrong, and use the Bible to show them why they are wrong.
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That's why my book Confirmation Autobiogray of Faith is you know, after I get
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through my story, which is you know what, the first fifty pages,
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the entire rest of the book is Catholic doctrine and Biblical verses to support it.
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I explain Catholicism through the Bible. If you have that book, you
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should be able to talk with any Protestant, even you know the biggest Bible
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thumpers they call them, and you should say, wait a minute, no,
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you're wrong, because the Bible actually says this. Open my book to
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that chapter or read it and remember what I said, and show them where
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their doctrine does not agree with Catholicism, where their doctrine does not agree with
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the Bible, but Catholic doctrine absolutely does. A person says, anyway,
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only one in one hundred thousand ever changed from the religion of his parents.
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That's interesting. One instance is enough to refuse refute that statement, They answer,
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Your proportion would be about four hundred and forty millions. Now the population
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of England is about forty million. And in England alone there are are the
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average number of converts to the Catholic churches over twelve thousand yearly. The number
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is even greater in America, and a steady stream of converts is the experience
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of most other countries also, However, the one instance of England is a
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sufficient reply to your extravagant exertion, and the person says, at least Protestant
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is more Protestantism is more tolerant than Catholicism. I am an Anglican, but
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I do not say that I am right. I believe in everyone believing as
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he thinks best and not criticizing others. And they answer, you take up
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an extraordinary position. If you do not say that you're right, cannot have
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definite grounds for your belief, and such belief as credulity. And do you
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really believe in everyone believing in his own belief whether that be right or wrong.
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If so, you believe in people believing in error. But Christ came
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precisely to stop people from believing in error. From far from allowing people to
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believe in their own beliefs, he commanded them to give up their previous beliefs
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and to believe in what he taught if they wish to save their souls.
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I believe with you. I believe with you in not criticizing others. I
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give them credit for sincerity and goodness, but it is quite lawful to criticize
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their theories. So, speaking of the Christ of Jesus, let's turn to
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Father Spiago, and let's look at who Jesus is. I won't say he
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was, because Jesus is eternal. He came to in a fixed period of
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time, but he is not bound to time. He exists outside of time.
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Jesus is. That's why God said I am that am. He's eternal,
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he's outside of time. We are temporal. We live in a temporal
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space until we, you know, go to Heaven and become like God,
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as Jesus actually said, we will become like God because we share in the
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nature of God. Once we've become baptized, we become part of the body
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of Christ, and we become immortal and that live outside of time and space,
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just like He does. Which is why it's so ridiculous that Protestants say
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we can't talk with saints and angels because they're in heaven and we're here now.
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They're actually not bound by time or space. They're here with us right
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now heaven. We, you know, as Saint Paul said, we are
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surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. They're here with us now. They
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can see us. We just can't see them because our perspective is limited.
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So Father Spagas says Jesus of Nazareth is the Redeemer or Christ. The Jews
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called the coming Redeemer the Messiah in Hebrew or the Christ in Greek. The
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anointed One, the anoided of the Lord was the usual epithet among the Jews
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for prophets, high priests, and kings, because they were anointed in sign
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of their mission on appointment on their appointment to office, and this anointing symbolized
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the light and strength of the Holy Ghost and reminded them of the duty of
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clemency. The coming Messiah was to be a prophet, priest, and king
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all in one, and the greatest of them all hints it was usual to
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call him simply the anointed one of the Lord. This unction of the Messiah
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was not a physically physical exterior act, but an internal dwelling of the Holy
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Spirit. Jesus of Nazareus is the Redeemer because all the prophecies had their fulfillment
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in him. Jesus often appealed to his circumstances, especially his conk in his
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conversation with the two Disciples on the way to Emmaeus few points out in his
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Gospel how the prophecies are fulfilled in Christ. Many Jews have been converted on
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the comparing the life of Christ with the prophecies. Okay, just had to
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kick a brief pause from the podcast. I will head it out all the
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dead air. Just had about twelve deer at the fright guard. I didn't
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know what the noise was. Went and walked and yep, there they were,
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just hanging out right at the front door, grazing on some bushes and
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such. Just looked at the deer, they looked at me, and now
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they're gone. So back to the back two fathers Barrago's explanation of Jesus.
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We'll pick back up with point number two. Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah
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because the kingdom founded by him on Earth has been enduring. The success of
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many of those who claim to be the Messiah has ever been temporary. But
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Jesus of Nazaus Nazareth had his followers in every age. Had his kingdom the
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Church been the work of men, it would have been destroyed long ago.
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That it has survived, and in spite two of so much persecution is a
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proof that it is God's work and that its founder must be heaven sent the
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Messiah. Point three, Jesus himself claimed the name of the Redeemer. On
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the occasion of his conversation with the Samaritan woman, and in the presence of
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the High Priest Caiaphus, the Samaritan woman said to Christ at the well,
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I know that the Messiah will come, who is called Christ. And Christ
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replied, I am he who I am speaking with THEE. That's John four
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twenty as John four twenty five twenty six. The High Priest Caiaphas said to
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Christ, I adjure THEE by the Living God that thou tellest if thou be
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the Christ, the Son of God. And Christ answered, thou hast said
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it, that's Matthew twenty six sixty four. On another occasion, Saint Peter
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was committed for calling him the Christ, the son of the Living God Matthew
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sixteen sixteen point number four. The angels announced him as Redeemer when they appeared
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to the shepherd's near Bethlehem, and in Saint Joseph's vision, an angel stood
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by the shepherds and said, fear not, for behold, I bring you
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good tidings, a great joy that should be to all people, For this
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day is born to you a savior who is Christ. The Lord. When
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Saint Joseph was thinking of dismissing our blessed Lady, an angel appeared to him
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in sleep and announce the birth of Christ. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
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for he shall save his people from their sins Matthew twenty one. Since
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Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ or the Messiah, he has called Jesus Christ,
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and this is the name he himself uses in John seventeen three. I
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believe now we'll discuss the life of Christ man. This may be a multi
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part. I may have to break this one into two because it's rather long.
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The life of Christ, the childhood of Christ will begin with the Christ,
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I should say. The birth of Christ was announced by the archangel Gabriel
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to the blessed Virgin Mary at Nazareth Luke one, twenty eight. This event
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is commemorated by the feast of the Annunciation, which is kept on the twenty
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fifth of March by the Angelus and in the first words of the hell Mary.
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After the angel salutation, our lady set out to visit her cousin,
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Saint Elizabeth, who greeted her with the words containing the second part of the
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Hell, Mary and our lady replied in the solemn words of the magnificat Luke
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on the visitation is kept on the second of July, immediately after the Octavion.
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The nativity of Saint John the Baptist. Saint Joseph also was worn to
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the birth of Christ by an angel Matthew one eighteen twenty five. When one
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eighteen through twenty five, I should say, when debating on the advisability of
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putting away our lady, first point is Christ was born the blessed Virgin Mary
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in a stable at Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph had to repair to their native
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place of Bethlehem to be enrolled in the censes being held at the command of
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the Emperor Augustus. They were obliged to seek refuge in a stable because there
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was no room for them in Bethlehem Luke two seven. As in the conception,
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so in the birth of Christ was exception made to the ordinary course of
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nature. Mary was free from the penalties described in Genesis three sixteen, because
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Saint Bernard says she alone had been conceived without without carnal sin. Saint Augustine
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exclaims, behold, he who rules the world lies in a manger. He
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who feeds the angels is suckled by his mother. Strength becomes weak, and
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that weakness may be made strong. Strength becomes weak, that weakness may be
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made strong. And again a great physician came down from heaven to heal a
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great disease on earth. He healed in a way hitherto unheard of, for
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he took our ills on himself. Being rich, he became poor, that
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through his poverty we may be made rich Second Corinthians eight nine. Every circumstance
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attending the birth of Christ has a deep meaning. Christ was born at Bethlehem,
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which means the house of bread, actually because the Saint Jerome says he
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is the living bread. He is born far away from his home in Nazareth,
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because he descended from Heaven, his true home, and is a stranger
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among men. He is born amid shepherds and their flocks, because he is
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to be the good shepherd of a great flock. He is born in a
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stable because the earth, in comparison of Heaven, is but a stable.
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He is born not in a house, but in a stable, that all
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might have confidence and approach him, says Saint Peter. Christologis He is born
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in obscurity because he is the hidden God Isaiah. That's a quote from Isaiah,
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when whom we cannot see in this life, and who loves good deeds
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done in secret. He is laid in a manger with cattle feed because he
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is to be the food of man. And he is laid in the wood
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to recall to us that he came down from heaven to die on a cross.
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So too he dwells in our tabernacles. He is born at midnight because
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the greater portion of mankind was buried in darkness and knew nothing of the true
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God. He is born in the winter season at night. Noticed that the
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knights in Palestine are particularly cold because the hearts of men were cold, unwarmed.
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Yet with the fire of charity, Christ drops from heaven in the nighttime
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like the dew to refresh the hearts of men. At the time of his
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birth, the Temple of Janis in Rome was closed, and there was peace
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over all the earth, because Christ was the Prince of peace and the God
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of peace. I E, our Lord, came as a little child that
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man might approach him with more confidence. Had he come as a great king,
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men would have shrunk away, while as a child he invited not all
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but sympathy. Christ comes in poverty and renunciation to teach us that the road
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to heaven is the way of suffering and self conquest, not of pleasure and
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self indulgence. Because besides this, he would show us that he he is
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a friend of the poor, to whom he is appointed to preach the gospel.
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A light appeared to the shepherd's to remind us that the light of the
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world has come, who was to shine in the midst of darkness. The
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Hymn of the Angels is the keynote of his mission to glorify God and to
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give peace to men, especially peace with God, reconciling man to God by
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his death on the cross, Peace with self, peace and true peace which
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comes from the knowledge and practice of the Gospel, and peace with the neighbor,
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by virtues of brotherly love, love of one's enemy, and meekness.
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He announced his birth by the voice of an angel to the shepherd's and not
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to the proud pharisees and scribes, because he would hide his mysteries from the
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wise and prudent and reveal them to little ones. Because he gives his graces
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to the humble and resists the proud. Such too is the disposition of God's
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providence in all time to the proud, whatever their learning and teaching of Christ
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are a sealed book. While the lowly and humble received God's light. The
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first to receive the call to the crib or the Jews and the persons of
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the Shepherd, and after them the Gentiles and the persons of the Three Kings,
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all to signify that Christ would first call into his church, the Jews
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reference to Matthew fifteen twenty four, and afterwards the Gentiles, by means of
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his apostles. The Wonderful Star in the east was to announce that Christ the
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Wonderful had come down from Heaven. The census of the people at the time
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of his birth reminds us of the great enrollment which would take place at his
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second coming. Christ begins to teach us in his birth even before uttering a
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word. The deeds of the Lord are commands. If he does anything in
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silence, he means that we should imitate him. In the comments of Saint
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Gregory the Great in the Liturgy of the Church, we celebrate our Lord's birth
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on the twenty fifth of December Christian Christmas Day. On that day, every
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priest has the privilege of saying three masses, which would call the threefold birth
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of Christ, the eternal birth from God the Father, the birth in time
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from the womb of Mary, and his spiritual birth in our hearts. A
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crib is generally erected in most churches, and a practice which was a practice
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originated by Saint Francis of Assisi. In many households there's kept up the customer
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of the Christmas Tree, a reminder of the fatal tree of Paradise, and
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also the tree of the Cross. The Christmas boxes recalled our minds the gifts
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of God the Father to mankind on this day immediately following Christmas, or the
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feasts of Saint Stephen, Saint John, and the Holy Innocence. As though
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the Church would say, if you would follow Christ, you must become a
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martyr like Saint Stephen. If not the shedding of blood, you must at
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least to the denial of self and the bearing of suffering. You must love.
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You must love God and your neighbor like Saint John, and new works
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of mercy. And finally, you must be like a child with God.
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The newborn child is first adored by the shepherds and then the magi. The
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shepherds were told by an angel of the birth of the Savior. The three
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kings were led to him by a star. This star was something exceptional,
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for it had a proper motion of its own in the heavens. According to
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Saint John Christostom, it may have been an angel into the appearance of a
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star. Catherine Emmerich, in her Revelation, says that the star had various
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aspects. At times it appeared as a child carrying across, or a woman
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with a child, again, as a chalice with grapes and wheat ornamenting it,
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as a church, as a church, or for forming the word Judea.
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Saint Irenaeus remarks that the presence indicated their esteem to him, to whom
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the three kings offered them gold, the symbol of homage is offered to him
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as a king, incense, a symbol of prayer because he is God,
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and mir symbol of mortification because as our redeemer he was to suffer the magi.
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I returned to their homes by another way to show us, as Saint
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Gregory the Great, that if we wish to reach our true home in Paradise,
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we must forsake the path in which we have hitherto walked and tread the
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way of penance, obedience and self denial. The shepherds represented the Jews and
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the poor and the poor the Three Kings, the gentiles and the rich.
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The relics of the Three Kings were taken from the east to Cologne in eleven
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sixty two by Barbarossa and now repose in the cathedral there. The Feast of
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the Three Kings is held on the sixth of January in many countries where there
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still exists, the custom of blessing on this day the water of the Three
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Kings and the blessing of chalk and salt is not unusual. The initials of
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the names of the three Kings are sometimes marked on doors of houses to claim
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their patronage. This feast is also called the Epiphany, because in former times
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the birth of Christ or the appearance of Christ to mankind celebrate on this day.
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Of course, we just celebrated this like two weeks ago, so it
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should be fresh in your mind, hants. In the Greek Church, the
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season of Advent is prolonged until the Epiphany This day is also celebrated as one
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hunts the one on which Christ was baptized in the Jordan, where he performed
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his first miracle with Cana. When the child was eight days old, he
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was circumscised and received the name Jesus. Jesus in Hebrew is Joshua or Josue,
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which means Savior. You know again our Torah. Observant Christians say,
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you must call him Yeshua. Well, there's just but one variant of the
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name Jesus. It could also be Elijah. It could also be you know,
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a Manuel. It could also be the son of man A, you
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know, Lord, Savior, the Christ, etc. But yes, Jesus
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comes from the Hebrew Joshua. This name is, as Saint Paul says,
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above all names, for it was chosen by God himself and revealed to the
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Virgin Mary. Moreover, the holy name has great value. It's invocation brings
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help in temptation and affliction. The powers of hell shrink from it. The
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name usually given by the prophets was Emmanuel I E God with Us. On
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the feast of the circumcision on the first of January is also New Year's Day.
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The Church would thus teach us to begin everything with the name of Jesus
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Innocent. The Twelfth Popiness at the Twelfth in sixteen ninety one, was the
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first to order the practice of the beginning the new year, the practice of
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beginning the new year on the first day of January. Previously it had been
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on Christmas Day. It is a pious custom in many places to have a
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solemn thanksgiving service and to sing the tay Deem on the last day of the
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year in thanksgiving for past favors. The Tadaem wonderful prayer written by Saint Ambrose.
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There's actually a plenary indulgence if one recites it publicly on New Year's Eve.
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I forgot to do that this year, so I missed out on a
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major indulgence. But I do try to pray it every morning. When the
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child was forty days old, he he was presented to the temple. Mary
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complied with the law of Moses, though being free from sin, she needed
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no purification. The feast of the purification is also called candle Mass. On
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that day, candles are blessed and carried in procession in memory of the words
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of Holy Semeon, calling our Lord the light for the Revelation of the Gentiles,
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and you know, I'm going to pause here. We'll pick it up
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in the next show with the Childhood of Christ. We've gotten through the Birth
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of Christ. We're going to go through the childhood and the ministry of Christ.
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And you're going to learn a lot about the life of Jesus that you
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know you may not know, but it's of course always reviewing the life of
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our Lord is you know, one of the greatest things upon which we can
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meditate. So I'm I'm gonna I'm going to tell you goodbye here. I'm
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going to give you the words of Saint Padre Pio, pray, hope and
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don't worry. And I'm going to go see what damage the deer have done.
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I don't think they've done any but there was a lot. I mean,
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there were at least twelve those out there, just like hanging out on
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my front porch, know, just just just grazing around. You know.
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That's that's life in the woods. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
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I quite like observing wildlife. People think, you know, you're a
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hunter, you're a fisherman, you're all that, you must hate animals.
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No, actually, I really love animals. I provide habitat for animals.
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I provide forage and feed for animals, and it's my role. God given
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role was a steward and the role of the animals also provide food for man
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and look at the beauty of God's creation. Is absolutely to appreciate a deer,
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which is one of the you know, most beautiful creatures. Just see
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one run and jump is amazing, just amazing. But you know, dose
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are very well, twitchy, very hyper vigilant, and you have to be
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very quiet and steel if you want to watch them at any you know close.
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You know, people seem in neighborhoods these days just walking around because we've
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taken so much of their habitat and they think, you know, they're getting
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really used to humans. Not at all. If they can smell you,
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they're gone. So I love to when I spot some deer, walk into
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the wind so the descent is carried away from me and not toward them,
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and get as close as I can and just sit and watch them, very
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peaceful, very pretty creatures. I do that with a lot of things.
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Birds, bears, I mean, got a big old apple tree up behind
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the house where they're huge old sal that's an old female bear. She must
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be four hundred pounds. We'll go and sit and eat windfalls and actually eat
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bees and such. You know, bears eat a lot of bugs by the
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way, and I'll just I'll come in, you know, with the wind
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going toward me, and I'll get within, you know, no closer than
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thirty yards and just sit and watch that bear and enjoy it. Bears are
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you know, comical. And eventually she figures out I'm there, and you
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know, doesn't think I'm any kind of a threat because I'm not acting aggressively.
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I'm just sitting there and it's nice. It's nice. You know.
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I have locks of turkeys that walk through the yard, and I'll get my
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turkey call and I'll call them and they'll call back to me, and they'll
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come near and they'll look at me, and they'll actually get really close.
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Turkeys are very very curious. They like to come up and look in the
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eye. So it's, uh, you know, this is why I live
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where I do. It's it's it's a wonderful thing. I get to enjoy
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being in a truly natural environment. Really very grateful. It's a great blessing
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for me. I don't live entirely like a hermit, but I do get
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to enjoy some of the the things that are you know, great hermit saints
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found the solace in nature that they sought. But anyway, really nice to
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go down to the creek and look and see the trout, you know,
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dodging around and getting behind rocks and eating bugs on. You know, I
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probably do more actually observing fish, and I do fishing, and I love
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to fish. It's beautiful. God's creation is a Bible in and of itself.
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You know, the creation reflects the Creator, and it's just it's wonderful.
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I cannot express I mean, if you go online and you look up
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Grandfather Mountain or Limble Falls, you know, you'll see where I live and
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you'll understand what I'm saying. The waterfalls, the views from the top of
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the mountain, the sunrises and sunsets, the incredible fall colors and spring greens.
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And yeah, I live in Paradise, in a town of about seventy
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people, a community that it's not a town deep in the woods, rather
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solitary. Not a lot of Catholics around here. But it's gorgeous. It's
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just it's it's absolute paradise. I've lived in cities before and hated it.
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I did not fit in I did. I remember one time just walking and
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I put on old pair of cowboy boots for I went up go the store,
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and my boots were so loud on that sidewalk, and I thought,
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I don't belong here. Nothing about me fits in this concrete. It was
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a college town. The gutters were full of puke, homeless everywhere, and
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a lot of crime. And I actually, you know, carried a pistol
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and it was I just thought, no, this is I got to get
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back to. I got to get back to where it's green. I belong
27:29
where it's green. And you know, even a cold winter day like this,
27:34
it's been very cold, gollipete, is it been cold. If I
27:37
think most of the country can understand what I'm saying right now, I wouldn't
27:42
trade it, give me the mountains or give me the coast. Yeah,
27:47
I went and trade. I mean, I could never live in a city
27:52
not be sane, seriously, And I know most of most Catholics are city
27:56
people. Most people listening to this grew up in New York or New Jersey
28:03
or Chicago or wherever. And you you know, you can't imagine being out
28:07
in the woods with packs of coyotes running around and bears, and that would
28:12
probably freak you out or you'd think you'd be bored or something, but trust
28:15
me, you'd never get bored. There's too much work to do, for
28:19
one thing. You never get bored with as much work as there is to
28:22
do when you have a little homestead kind of place. Just wow. Anyway,
28:30
y'all have a going and I will talk to you next time.