Latest / Arena Ablaze Podcast / Make Haste: Finding Mary in All Throughout the Bible

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Make Haste: Finding Mary in All Throughout the Bible · Arena Ablaze Podcast

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Welcome into the arena.
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This is the Arena of Blaze podcast, where
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our goal is to inspire men to join
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us in passing through the gate of Mary,
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being found worthy to wield the most powerful
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sword the world will ever know in the
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spiritual battle that rages all around us, the
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Holy Face of Jesus.
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I'm your willing host, Marco Sandoval.
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I'm just coming to my attention, maybe I
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need to give a little introduction of myself
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and why I'm doing this.
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So, you know, I'm really just a toddler
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Catholic who was invited into a deeper relationship
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with Mary.
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I kind of told during my story that
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I had a Vietnamese angel visit me and
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hand me the 33 days, and so that's
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why I'm here really.
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My goal is to spread the message of
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the Blessed Mother, of her love, of how
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she is such a fast way.
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She brings you closer to her Son, and
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the 33 days completely changed my life, increased
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my devotion to Mary, and so many fruits
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have come out of that.
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So that's why we're here, and today we're
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talking about Mary in Scripture.
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Again, this is the second time.
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We'll just continue walking through the Scriptures from
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the Visitation through the Nativity and the Shepherds.
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If you find value in this conversation, please
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like and subscribe.
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I think it's probably most important to subscribe,
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that way you get alerts when we get
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new videos dropped.
1:31
Leave us a comment, a question, you know,
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those things are wonderful because it may send
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us in a direction that more benefits the
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conversation, benefits what you're getting out of it.
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We appreciate any feedback we get on the
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conversations.
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Our true algorithm is the Holy Spirit, so
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let's begin by renewing our total consecration to
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Jesus through Mary, so that we may do
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everything with, in, through, and for Mary as
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her instrument, so that she can lead us
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to more perfectly do everything with, in, through,
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and for Jesus.
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I, Marcos Sandoval, a repentant sinner, renew and
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ratify today in your hands, O Immaculate Mother,
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the vows of my baptism.
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I renounce Satan and resolve to follow Jesus
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Christ even more closely than before.
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Mary, I give you my heart.
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Please set it on fire with love for
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Jesus.
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Make it always attentive to his burning thirst
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for love and for souls.
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Keep my heart in your most pure heart,
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that I may love Jesus and the members
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of his body with your own perfect love.
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Mary, I entrust myself totally to you, my
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body and soul, my goods, both interior and
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exterior, and even the value of all my
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good actions.
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Please make of me, of all that I
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am and have, whatever most pleases you.
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Let me be a fit instrument in your
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immaculate and merciful hands for bringing the greatest
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possible glory to God.
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If I fall, please lead me back to
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Jesus.
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Wash me in the blood and water that
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flow from his pure side, and help me
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never to lose my trust in this fountain
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of love and mercy.
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With you, O Immaculate Mother, you who always
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do the will of God, I unite myself
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to the perfect consecration of Jesus as he
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offers himself in the Spirit to the Father
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for the life of the world.
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Amen.
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The month of this recording is September.
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September is a month of Our Lady of
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Sorrows, or Mother of Sorrows, you'll notice behind
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me.
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We've got Our Lady of Sorrows flag from
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TradFlags.
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Definitely check them out.
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They've got wonderful flags, and so I've been
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praying the chaplet to Our Lady of Sorrows
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this month.
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She's been very important to me.
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Father Carney asked me to pray a decade
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of my rosary to her for some things
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that he's discerning, and so just, yeah, if
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you're out there and you definitely pray that
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chaplet.
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It's so powerful, so powerful in revealing your
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sins.
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That's what I've always wanted to walk into
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it for.
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Our Lady will bring to the surface those
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tricky, insidious little sins that are kind of
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hard to put your fingers on, and especially
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she can help you sort out what's your
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will from what's the will of God.
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And so she just intercedes for us and
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raises our prayers, really what it is, raises
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it to a higher pitch so that Jesus
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will come to us and give us the
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graces that we need.
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Also, on the 8th of this month is
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the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
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That's her birth, so I'm gonna start by
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talking about just some questions that I had
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from the last episode.
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I jotted some notes down, but I thought
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they were interesting, so I thought, well, let
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me put some thought into these, and maybe
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we'll start there.
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So one of them was a question about
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whether Jesus had brothers, or the Bible refers
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to the brothers of Jesus in a few
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different places.
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You know, I would say that's a mainly
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a question about the perpetual virginity of Mary.
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You know, I think when we're thinking about
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Mary and Joseph, I think we have to
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raise our heart and our mind to a
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higher level.
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I think it's easy for us to look
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at the Holy Family in terms of ourselves,
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our own families, our fallen nature.
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I think in looking at them, we really
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have to look at it just at a
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higher level.
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So a lot of that can be rooted
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in pride.
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I feel like a lot of times we
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try to reach up and grab saints and
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holy people, and we try to bring them
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down to our level so that we can
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relate to them.
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I think that's like an easy thing that
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we can tend to fall into.
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So I would just say that Sacred Scripture
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and the Fathers of the Church, they pretty
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much always said that Mary was perpetual virginity,
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perpetually a virgin.
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The brothers of Jesus are never deemed as
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sons of Mary in Scripture.
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I think that's an important point.
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I would also say, too, is the further
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I've gotten into being closer to my relationship
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with Jesus, I started to refer to almost
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everybody I come in contact with, especially those
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who are Christian, Catholic, people I come across
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in church as brothers.
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I start to see everyone as my brother,
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and I often say, you know, thanks brother,
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or how you doing today brother.
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I often refer to most anyone I cross
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paths with in my Christian day-to-day
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life as my brother.
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So I think that's a typical thing that
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goes back to that time.
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But to me, the most important tell of
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this whole thing is that on the cross,
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one of Jesus's last things that he does
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is he entrusts Mary to John.
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He says, he says, woman behold your son,
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and son behold your mother.
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So he gives Mary to John, and it
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says that she, from that moment, she went
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into John's home as he's dying on the
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cross.
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So to me, that absolutely makes no sense.
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If he had brothers to take care of
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his mother, it just doesn't seem congruent that
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he would have given his mother to St.
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John to take care of.
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So that's the kind of scriptural basis for
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that.
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I think with all these things, what I
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would say, just kind of like, if you
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feel that Mary's calling you into a deeper
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relationship with her, if you feel like Jesus
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is calling you into a deeper relationship with
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his mother, I'll pick up the rosary and
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learn to pray and start praying it.
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Because nobody, there's nothing that can speak to
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your heart these truths quite like Mary herself
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can, Jesus can, because he wants his mother
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to be honored, just like he gave her
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to John.
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And as we continue to walk through the
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scripture, you'll see more and more that she
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plays a vital role in salvation history.
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You know, again, as we said last time,
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she's like the perfect witness, the perfect, she
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understands perfectly the Trinity by her relationship to
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all three members.
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You'll see at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit
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comes, she's present.
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So she's always brokering and bringing others closer
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to her son, bringing others closer to her
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spouse, the Holy Spirit, and she's always present
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and kind of, you know, kind of an
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advocate for us in that way.
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The other one is the Immaculate Conception.
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You know, Catholics, we believe that Mary was
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preserved from original sin, that she had no
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corrupt nature.
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To me, that comes most clearly through my
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mind first, in reading about the Ark of
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the Covenant.
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So if you go back in the Old
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Testament and read about the Ark of the
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Covenant and everything around that, I'm not gonna
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go too much into depth on that here,
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but Moses goes up on the mountain and
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he's with God for 40 days, comes down,
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he's glowing because he was in the presence
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of God, and he has basically all of
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God's instructions.
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And if you go through those chapters, he
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says, and God said to do this, and
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God said to do this, just like this,
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and just like that.
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And so if you look at how the
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Ark of the Covenant is specifically laid out
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and how important it is that nobody touches
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it that's not worthy to touch it, and
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then you think about what was in the
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Ark of the Covenant and what its purpose
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was for the people, and then you lean
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into Jesus and what Jesus is being carried
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into the world through Mary and what Jesus
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truly is, divine, and what Jesus meant to
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the people.
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I think it's a, you know, it's, of
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course, the new Ark that's going to carry
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the Son of God is going to be
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at a higher degree than the Ark of
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the Covenant was in the Old Testament, so
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it just makes perfect sense to me, in
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my mind, that there would be absolutely no
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possibility of any corrupt nature in Mary to
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be that intimately intertwined with Jesus growing in
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her womb.
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You know, so what we'd say is when
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Jesus did the work of salvation, he proactively
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redeemed Mary.
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She was redeemed by Christ in advance so
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she could be a suitable vessel to bring
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him into the world.
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So it's a difference between redemption that preserves
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versus redemption that cleanses, and at the Annunciation
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we know the angel says, full of grace
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to Mary.
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Okay, and as we know in Genesis, God
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created Adam and Eve without original sin.
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They were created incorruptly in the beginning, then
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they fell.
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So we know that Mary and Jesus are
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the new Eve and the new Adam.
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So again, you know, I guess I'll say
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this throughout many times, as I've gotten to
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know the Word, as I read the Scripture,
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and I got to know God through Scripture,
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know Jesus the way he works, of course
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God's never constrained by his creation, but he
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created things in a certain way because they're
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of him.
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Like, he created him, in my mind, he
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created him that way because they were good,
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and when all creation was complete, he said,
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very good.
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So it makes sense that when he's gonna
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recreate and restore humanity, he's gonna create in
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the same manner because he's the same creator,
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and that's kind of his fingerprints of creation.
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So I hope that helps.
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Anyone out there who has those questions, again,
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I would just say Charlie Kirk, at the
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end of his life, they say he was
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praying the Rosary, so I think that's a
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good witness.
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He, you know, it's said that he had
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some curiosity, so that's the best way, in
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humility, to put yourself in prayer.
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Ask God.
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If you don't feel comfortable at the Rosary
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or asking for Mary's intercession, pray to Jesus
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to ask him to show you what he
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wants for you in regards to his mother,
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how he wants his mother to be honored,
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and you will answer good, true prayers like
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that, for sure.
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So we got Mary over here with roses.
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You know, that's, I love Mary.
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It's stressful for me to do these episodes
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because I'm a doting son of Mary, so
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I don't, I'm always concerned that I'm gonna
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speak highly enough of her, I'm gonna speak
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well enough of her.
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I pray on my way here that the
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Holy Spirit will come and fill me with
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what he wants said about her, so yeah,
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so bear with me.
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But first Saturday, I celebrate the first Saturday
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devotion that comes from Our Lady of Fatima.
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She requested that as part of Our Lady
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of Fatima, so that will be this Saturday.
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So we always take roses and go to
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that Mass.
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My church has a 7 a.m. Mass
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devoted to that first Saturday.
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We pray the Rosary after, spending 15 minutes
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meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, and
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then going to confession within a, I can't
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remember what the range is, but within a
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close range around for Saturday is basically what
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you have to do to make that devotion.
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In future episodes, I definitely want to go
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into the Rosary.
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I'm reading a book currently about the history
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of the Rosary, a wonderful book.
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I'm learning so much about it, and I
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want to walk into that and share that
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with you as I get through that.
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The Rosary, a lot of times people think
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it's about Mary.
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It's definitely a Marian devotion, but the mysteries
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of the Rosary are really about Jesus's life.
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I mean, it's, Mary's entire being is created
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for the purpose of Jesus.
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She leads us to him, so those mysteries
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of the Rosary, today's the sorrowful mysteries, for
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instance.
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So, the agony in the garden, that's Jesus
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in the garden before he's betrayed.
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Mary's not in the picture there.
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The scourging at the pillar is the second
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one.
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The third one's a crowning with thorns.
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The fourth one is the carrying of the
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cross, and the fifth one is the crucifixion.
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So, those are all about Jesus.
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So, as you pray those Hail Marys, you're
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meditating on those mysteries.
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Of course, we know Mary was with him
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every step of the way, all the way
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to the cross.
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So, she has intimate knowledge of exactly what
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he was going through as devotees of the
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Holy Face of Jesus.
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The Veil of Veronica occurs right in the
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middle of those mysteries.
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Mary was present for all of that.
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So, I truly believe as you pray those
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Hail Marys, you're placing your heart in her
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hands to where she can communicate to you
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what she saw.
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The Immaculate Heart and the Sacred Heart are
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never to be separated.
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So, she, at a very, very deep level,
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knew everything that her son was going through.
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So, I think she enriches in you, in
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your heart, in your mind, devotion to those
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whatever mysteries you're praying over.
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Okay, so scriptural.
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I want to start with the litany of
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Mary, her titles.
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I know I had mentioned this last time.
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I think they're very illuminating to think of
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the ways that the Church describes Mary in
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these litanies.
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So, I'm just going to go through these
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quickly.
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Mother of God, Virgin of Virgins, Mother of
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Christ, Mother of the Church, Mother of Divine
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Grace, Mother Most Pure, Mother Most Chaste, Mother
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Inviolate, Mother Undefiled, Mother Most Lovable, Mother Most
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Admirable, Mother of Good Counsel, Mother of our
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Creator, Mother of our Savior, Virgin Most Prudent,
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Virgin Most Venerable, Virgin Most Renowned, Virgin Most
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Powerful, Virgin Most Merciful, Virgin Most Faithful, Mirror
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of Justice, Seat of Wisdom, Cause of our
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Joy, Spiritual Vessel, Vessel of Honor, Singular Vessel
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of Devotion, Mystical Rose.
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I like that one.
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It's a pretty one.
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Tower of David, Tower of Ivory, House of
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Gold, Ark of the Covenant, Gate of Heaven,
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Morning Star, Health of the Sick, Refuge of
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Sinners, Comfort of the Afflicted, Help of Christians,
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Queen of Angels, Queen of Patriarchs, Queen of
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Prophets, Queen of Apostles, Queen of Martyrs, Queen
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of Confessors, Queen of Virgins, Queen of Saints.
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I love those.
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They're beautiful.
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I love thinking about them.
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I almost get a little emotional as I
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read through them because they're just so intimate.
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They're so, you know, I want somebody like
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that in my life.
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There are many of those titles that when
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you need to be comforted, she's a great
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place to go for comfort.
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I love Morning Star.
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That's a beautiful one to me.
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I love to watch the sky.
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I love sunrises and sunsets.
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There's been many a time where I'm driving
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somewhere early in the morning and the sunrise
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is coming and I see that first Morning
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Star and I always think of our beautiful
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Blessed Mother.
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So I think those are important things to
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have out there.
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So we're gonna start with the visitation, kind
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of a continuation of the Annunciation.
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So this is in Luke chapter 1 verse
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39 and on.
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Mary visits Elizabeth.
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During those days Mary set out and traveled
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to the hill country in haste to a
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town of Judah where she entered the house
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of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
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When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped
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in her womb and Elizabeth, filled with the
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Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice
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and said, Most blessed are you among women,
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and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
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And how does this happen to me that
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the mother of my Lord should come to
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me?
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For at the moment the sound of your
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greeting reached my ears, the infant in my
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womb leaped for joy.
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Blessed are you who believed that what was
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spoken to you by the Lord would be
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fulfilled.
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So much in that.
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Such a beautiful passage.
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You know, I love haste.
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That word haste, it kind of keeps coming
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up and recurring.
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Mary makes haste often.
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I feel like that's a characteristic as a
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son of Mary that I have taken on.
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I always, when I feel like I know
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the prudent way, I make haste that way.
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I don't hesitate.
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I just go about doing what I feel
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like she wants me to do, ultimately Jesus
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wants me to do, through her.
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So that's a very key word for me
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in my devotion to Mary.
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I love that word.
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I also love it that her greeting, right,
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Mary greeted Elizabeth, and when she greeted her,
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St. John the Baptist in her womb leaped.
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I think that's another beautiful thing.
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So Mary's voice carries Jesus, carries Jesus even
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when he's in the womb.
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I love thinking of these two infants in
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the womb.
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Like our society has such a society of
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death in so many ways.
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Abortion, we're always going round and round about
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abortion.
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We always try to minimize and belittle the
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infant in the womb, called a fetus, called
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a clump of cells, called all these other
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things, but God forbid we actually call it
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an infant.
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And here in Scripture you have two infants
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meeting through their mothers, through the voice of
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Mary.
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Jesus is communicating to St. John the Baptist
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who's leaping for joy.
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That's just a beautiful image.
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I'll probably get myself in trouble for this,
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but I've told many a priest that I
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feel like the Church is missing a sacrament
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right here.
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I feel like conception is a sacrament that
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we miss, because there's so much scripturally about
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infants in the womb from the moment of
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conception.
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I would solve a lot of problems if
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we had a sacrament of conception in the
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Church when it comes to abortion, but for
21:31
another day.
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So shortly thereafter, the infant leaps in her
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womb, and Elizabeth, it says, filled with the
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Holy Spirit.
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It's a great mystery.
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I mean, we know that Jesus later says
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in Matthew 11 11, none greater among those
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born of women is John the Baptist.
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So that's an interesting thing to say.
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It seems to me that Jesus is communicating,
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is saving grace already.
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He's already here.
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He's not even outside the womb, and yet
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he's already bringing salvation in the world.
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That's the way I understand this scripture.
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And then she responds, Elizabeth saying, Most blessed
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are you among women and blessed is the
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fruit of thy womb.
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This is the Hail Mary prayer, right?
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So from the Annunciation, Hail Mary full of
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grace, the Lord is with thee.
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Annunciation piece, and then from the Visitation piece,
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Most blessed are you among women and blessed
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is the fruit of thy womb.
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That's the first half of the Hail Mary,
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and the second half is an intercessory.
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We're asking Mary to intercede for us.
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So that's the whole prayer.
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Again, it's rooted in Jesus.
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It's a prayer to Mary, and the fact
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that in the means that we want Mary
22:55
to pray on our behalf, to bring her
22:57
Son to us, and us to her Son,
22:59
but the prayers are rooted in Jesus.
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And then she knows, Elizabeth knows that it's
23:09
the Lord.
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She's filled with the Holy Spirit.
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She knows that she's the mother of my
23:13
Lord.
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That's another one of her titles, coming from
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her mouth with the Spirit.
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You know, she just reflects on how her
23:21
infant leaped in her womb for joy, because
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the Savior came in the world, and we
23:24
know that John the Baptist was going to
23:26
be the one to announce him.
23:28
So, very good.
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That's a very, very good scripture.
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Then Mary, after that, the Canicle of Mary.
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So this is Luke 46.
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And Mary said, My soul proclaims the greatness
23:41
of the Lord.
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My spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for
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he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness.
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Behold, from now on will all ages call
23:51
me blessed.
23:52
The Mighty One has done great things for
23:54
me, and holy is his name.
23:57
His mercy is from age to age to
23:59
those who fear him.
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He has shown might with his arm, dispersed
24:03
the arrogant of mind and heart.
24:06
He has thrown down the rulers from their
24:08
thrones, but lifted up the lowly.
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The hungry has filled with good things, the
24:13
rich he has sent away empty.
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He has helped Israel, his servant, remembering his
24:18
mercy, according to his promise to our fathers,
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to Abraham and to his descendants forever.
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Mary remained with her about three months, and
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then returned to her home.
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So the Magnificat.
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So again, these are kind of foundational elements
24:36
to the Blue Army and the Rena Blay's
24:39
podcast.
24:41
Behold, Ece in Latin.
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Mary gives her fiat, and Jesus comes into
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the world, and then this is the Magnificat,
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where she's proclaiming the greatness of God.
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What a great gift she's been given, and
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she proclaims it.
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There's many things here that I love.
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My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
24:59
Sometimes you'll hear my soul magnifies the Lord,
25:02
and I've thought in the past, how can
25:04
anything magnify God?
25:06
Because God is like so big, and he's
25:10
everywhere.
25:10
How can it be magnified?
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But you know, I read that to be,
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you know, does God need to be magnified
25:19
in our world?
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Absolutely.
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Is he everywhere in our world?
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No, not in our not in our fallen
25:25
nature.
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He's not.
25:28
He's not everywhere.
25:29
So that's the magnification that I like.
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I often think of a magnifying glass through
25:36
the sun, and how magnifying glass focuses the
25:40
rays of the sun and can catch something
25:42
on fire.
25:43
So this is often where I think how
25:46
important Mary is to catching hearts on fire.
25:50
Lovely.
25:52
Again, it's her lowliness, so humble.
25:56
She's supremely humble and lowly, and God comes
26:01
and fills her, right?
26:02
Less of her, more of God.
26:04
I love how she proclaims all this.
26:06
I also like this passage, how God dispersed
26:10
the arrogant of mind and heart.
26:13
This mind and heart, I know Father Bernie
26:15
said the longest distance that anybody will travel
26:19
is from the distance from the head to
26:22
the heart, or the mind to the heart.
26:24
That is a very interesting concept.
26:28
You know, I can relate as an engineer,
26:31
as somebody who uses his mind to be
26:36
educated, uses my mind for my profession.
26:41
It's, I think, easy for men to get
26:44
lost in trying to understand, lost in trying
26:49
to develop more knowledge, lost in knowing.
26:52
And I think too far that way can
26:56
minimize us getting to the heart.
26:59
I think the heart is the higher pitch,
27:01
and for me, this is the 33 days,
27:05
trying to understand why I was doing the
27:08
things I was doing, trying to understand how
27:11
to be a better Christian, try to read
27:14
more so I can know more.
27:16
But once I went through the 33 days,
27:19
it's less about knowing and more about seeing
27:22
with your heart, reading with your heart, listening
27:26
with your heart, which is kind of a
27:27
hard concept to really define, but I just
27:34
love that she puts that in here.
27:35
And then at the end it says, Mary
27:37
remained with her about three months and then
27:39
returned to her home.
27:40
And we know from the Annunciation that Elizabeth
27:43
was six months pregnant.
27:44
The angel told Mary that she was pregnant
27:46
six months.
27:47
So this is a great act of hospitality,
27:50
and what a suffering for Joseph, too, in
27:53
the middle of all of this.
27:54
Like, Mary basically gets the Annunciation and then
27:58
she immediately disappears for three months in hospitality.
28:02
She makes haste to Elizabeth, who she was
28:04
told was with child, in six months.
28:06
So she's with Elizabeth, helping Elizabeth to get
28:09
through to her ninth month, and I assume
28:13
she was there for the birth of St.
28:15
John the Baptist, and then she made her
28:16
way back three months pregnant.
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These are all great mysteries.
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It's like, you're giving wonderful gifts in life,
28:26
and then you're doing the work of the
28:29
Lord, but yet there's always trial.
28:32
Like, the bitterness is always intermingled with the
28:35
sweet.
28:36
So, sweetly, you know what your vocation is,
28:41
and you're doing it.
28:42
You said yes to it, and you're doing
28:44
it, but then you have to make haste,
28:48
and you have to go do something that's
28:50
difficult, and Joseph has to struggle with what's
28:54
going on, and then Mary comes back three
28:59
months pregnant, and it's just an unbelievable trial
29:03
that you can really only appreciate if you
29:06
imaginatively place yourself into these stories, and you
29:10
just really think, as you read them, you
29:13
think about each passage and think, what would
29:16
I feel like?
29:17
What was Joseph feeling?
29:19
What was Mary feeling?
29:20
Try and put yourself in these different positions,
29:22
and really, we get so far away from
29:25
it, it becomes, you know, when we, I
29:27
think there's a tendency to read Scripture, and
29:30
it can be kind of flat.
29:32
Like, it just goes in one ear and
29:34
out the other.
29:34
We don't really think about what these people
29:37
were feeling, and what they were faced with
29:40
in these different circumstances.
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Okay, so the next one is the birth
29:43
of Jesus, Luke 2.
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In those days a decree went out from
29:49
Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be
29:51
enrolled.
29:52
This was the first enrollment.
29:54
When Quirinius was governor of Syria, so all
29:57
went to be enrolled, each to his own
29:59
town.
30:00
And Joseph too went up from Galilee, from
30:02
the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the
30:04
city of David, that is called Bethlehem, because
30:07
he was of the house and family of
30:09
David, to be enrolled with Mary his betrothed,
30:12
who was with child.
30:14
While they were there, the time came for
30:16
her to have her child, and she gave
30:18
birth to her firstborn son.
30:20
She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid
30:23
him in a manger, because there was no
30:25
room for them in the inn.
30:27
Now there were shepherds in that region, living
30:29
in the fields, and keeping night watch over
30:31
their flock.
30:32
The angel of the Lord appeared to them,
30:34
and the glory of the Lord shone around
30:36
them, and they were struck with great fear.
30:38
The angel said to them, Do not be
30:40
afraid, for behold, I proclaim to you good
30:44
news of great joy, that will be for
30:46
all the people.
30:47
For today, in the city of David, a
30:49
Savior has been born for you, who is
30:52
Messiah and Lord, and this will be a
30:54
sign for you.
30:55
You will find an infant wrapped in swaddling
30:57
clothes, and lying in a manger.
30:59
And suddenly, there was a multitude of the
31:02
heavenly hosts, with the angel, praising God, and
31:05
saying, Glory to God in the highest, and
31:08
on earth peace to those on whom his
31:11
favor rests.
31:13
Oh, more, more really good stuff here.
31:16
Manger, first thing it streaks out.
31:18
So the infant Jesus is wrapped in swaddling
31:21
clothes, and he's placed in a manger, a
31:23
feeding trough.
31:25
Oh what an echo that is to later,
31:28
when he's actually gonna give us his body,
31:32
blood, soul, and divinity to feast on.
31:34
So he comes, he's born, and he's he's
31:37
placed in the feeding trough, because he's gonna
31:38
feed us in the future.
31:41
I think that's a kind of a wonderful
31:43
thing.
31:44
There's no room at the inn, can't even
31:46
imagine.
31:47
This is the city, it's like your hometown
31:48
for Joseph.
31:50
Paul's relatives are there, his cousins are there,
31:52
this is his family town.
31:54
Even more familial than what we would think
31:58
of in our day and age.
32:00
Everyone's related, and you come into your town,
32:03
and nobody will give you any room.
32:05
Your wife is with child, it says they're
32:08
betrothed, and so they have to go to,
32:11
you know, she's ready to have the baby.
32:13
They both know who the baby is, and
32:16
they have to go into a stable.
32:18
Just as a man, a provider, a protector,
32:20
how grievously I could imagine Joseph's heart could
32:26
be.
32:27
I could imagine my heart would be if
32:30
I couldn't find what I would judge to
32:32
be a suitable place for my wife to
32:35
give birth.
32:35
That would be a very difficult trial.
32:38
Again, this word behold, you know, behold to
32:42
the shepherds, so the angels come to them
32:45
in their lowliness, behold.
32:49
Yeah, that's, and again this word haste, this
32:54
word haste comes up.
32:56
They make haste to go see, to go
32:59
see what's, to go see about what the
33:02
angels have told them about.
33:05
So this last one we'll read here is
33:07
the visit of the shepherds.
33:09
This is Luke again 2 verse 15 and
33:12
on.
33:13
When the angels went away from them to
33:15
heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let
33:17
us go then to Bethlehem to see this
33:19
thing that has taken place, which the Lord
33:22
has made known to us.
33:23
So they went in haste and found Mary
33:26
and Joseph and the infant lying in the
33:28
manger.
33:29
When they saw this, they made known the
33:31
message that had been told them about this
33:33
child.
33:34
All who heard it were amazed by what
33:36
had been told them by the shepherds, and
33:39
Mary kept all these things reflecting on them
33:41
in her heart.
33:42
When the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God
33:46
for all they had heard and seen just
33:48
as had been told them.
33:50
So that's the last one, haste, this word
33:54
haste.
33:55
The shepherds were told, the angels came and
33:59
told them what had happened.
34:02
The whole choir of angels were there.
34:05
They were afraid and, you know, of what
34:08
the angel says, have no fear.
34:10
And what do they do?
34:12
They make haste.
34:13
They look at each other and say they
34:14
make haste to go see what the angels
34:16
have told them.
34:18
I love that.
34:19
I love that word haste.
34:21
May all of us in life, when we
34:23
have these little moments come to us where
34:25
we feel like a calling, we feel something
34:28
on our heart, we're being beckoned to deeper.
34:31
God's inviting us deeper into relationship with Him.
34:34
Jesus is inviting us deeper into relationship with
34:36
Him.
34:37
Mary, inviting our curiosity to learn more about
34:40
her.
34:40
May we make haste to put ourselves in
34:44
those, to say yes and put ourselves in
34:46
those places that we may be fed and
34:50
we may go to the next level in
34:53
our faith journey.
34:56
Okay, I think that's a wrap for today
34:57
as far as the Scripture we're going to
34:59
cover and kind of the reflections on it.
35:01
Next time we'll continue chronologically through the Scriptures
35:04
and continue into the presentation of the temple.
35:09
I know one thing I forgot to mention
35:11
is how Mary takes all these things into
35:14
her heart.
35:15
She reflects on them in their heart.
35:16
That is another, when I say make haste,
35:19
is a characteristic I've taken.
35:21
I don't know if it's a characteristic of
35:24
mine, but it's something that I look for
35:26
and I pray for.
35:28
I pray because I know that Mary, in
35:31
multiple places, we'll see here again in the
35:34
presentation, that she takes all these things into
35:37
her heart and she reflects on them in
35:38
her heart.
35:40
That's a beautiful witness for us believers.
35:44
I feel like that we need to take
35:47
more into our heart and we definitely need
35:50
to go to Mary in prayer and ask
35:53
her to take things that we need into
35:57
her heart and reflect on them, to take
35:58
our hearts into her heart and reflect on
36:01
our hearts and reveal to us things that
36:04
we can't see.
36:06
Others, our loved ones, somebody who's struggling, praying
36:09
for Mary to take their heart into her
36:11
Immaculate Heart and reflect on their heart and
36:15
reveal to them their deepest needs, reveal to
36:19
them what's true, and just anything along those
36:22
that way.
36:23
That is definitely a characteristic of Mary.
36:25
It's a personality trait of Mary.
36:27
It's an extremely powerful way of praying for
36:30
her intercession.
36:32
And so, I really encourage anybody out there
36:36
who hears this to definitely do that.
36:38
It's worked wonders in my life.
36:40
It's given me a very deep relationship and
36:43
love for Mary.
36:45
It continues to beckon me deeper in with
36:48
her.
36:48
It just gives me so much comfort.
36:51
So, I would just say at the end
36:53
here, Mary, co-redemptrix, pray for us.
36:59
Mary, mediatrix of all graces, pray for us.