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Show 121: Exaltation of Christ · The Uncensored Catholic

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A b y All, welcome today's show. We are continuing to discuss the
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most important thing a Christian can think about and discuss, of course, which
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is Jesus. Who is Jesus. We've talked quite a bit in the past
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two or three shows about his life from infancy through adulthood. Yesterday we came
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to what would for anyone else be the end of the story, the final
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chapter, the crucifixion and death of Christ. But of course Christ rose from
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the dead, and that's why we're Christians, that's what we put our belief
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in that proves his divinity. And so we will continue today with what Father
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Sparago calls the exaltation of Christ. But before we get into that, let's
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get back to radio replies. And we're now starting another chapter. This is
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on the failure of Protestantism. Now, why do I need to know as
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a Catholic what the failures of Protestantism are? Well, if you are a
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Catholic, you need to be willing to defend your faith, and part of
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that is what we're learning through Father Spirago's work. What a Christian believes,
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what a Catholic believes, and why what are our Sacraments and what you know,
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what do we believe about the church and how we worship and why we
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go to Mass, and why we're Catholic as opposed to being anything else.
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But the reason, one of the key points on why we're Catholic as opposed
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to being anything else is because all Protestant churches fall short. Okay, it's
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going to offend somebody if they Protestantly listen to that. But if you listen
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to this, mister or missus Protestant, please understand that I was a Protestant
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for twenty four years, born and raised into a Protestant family. It was
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who learning the failures of Protestantism, the doctrine and the truth of the Catholic
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Church that led me to become Catholic. I am going to present this to
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you in a spirit of charity. That's sort of odd, an odd concept
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these days. You're not supposed to tell somebody they're wrong about anything, right,
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You're supposed to celebrate whatever they do. If they think they're a cat,
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you're supposed to say, yes, you're a cat, and you're the
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greatest cat on the face of the earth. No, actually, you're a
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human being. That's a form of insanity. It's actually charity to warn a
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blind man so that he doesn't walk off a cliff. So let's with that
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in mind, let's begin this chapter. The person asks, do you think
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that the Protestant faith is false? And the Catholic priests the two that write
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this book, who had this radio show for decades, and this is in
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the nineteen thirties, if you know, if I haven't mentioned that before,
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I think I probably have, But you may be hearing this show for the
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first time. This is a great book questions answers to two Catholic priests,
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one in America, one Australia that was a long seaies as a radio show
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in the nineteen thirties. And these questions and answers are collected into three volumes
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called Radio Replies. So the questioner asks, do you say that the Protestant
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faith is false? They answer, there is no such thing as the Protestant
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faith. There are hundreds of varieties of Protestantism, each variety containing some true
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things mixed up with its own particular errors. As a religious system, I
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say that all Protestant sects are wrong. A person says, how does Protestantism
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in general disobey Christ, and they answer. In general, it says that
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Scripture is a sufficient guide to salvation, although Scripture says that it is not.
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It denies the authority of the Church established by Christ. It has no
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sacrifice of the Mass. It does not believe in confession. It denies Christian
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teachings on marriage, It rejects purgatory, and very often its advocates refuse to
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believe in hell. But I could go on almost forever. Meanwhile, if
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you can give me any doctrine taught by one Protestant church, I will produce
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another Protestant church which denies it. Say, perhaps perhaps the one doctrine that
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there is a God of some sort? He asks, would you call Protestants
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heathens? Christ said, if a man will not hear the church, let
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him be as a heathen. That's Matthew eighteen seven. He referred, of
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course, to the deliberate and willful refusal of a known obligation. If a
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man knows that the Catholic Church is the true Church, yet refuses to obey
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it, he will certainly be as a heathen before God. But Protestants who
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are ignorant of the truth that the Catholic claims, and who believe in Christ
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trying to serve him as best they can, would not be regarded as heathens.
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An exception is made in their case because of the lack of knowledge and
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because of their good disposition. The person says, Protestantism is not a protestantainst
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Christ, but against the Roman Church. They answer, Christ promised that his
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church would not fail. The Protestant reformer said that it did fall. Instead
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of protesting merely against the bad lives of some Catholics and even of some priests,
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they went too far and protested against the church as such, asserting that
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Christ had failed to keep his promise concerning it. This was a protest against
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Christ, who had promised to be with his church to the end of the
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world. Protest as much as you like against individual abuses in the church.
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But no man has the right to set up his own new church. Well,
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that is very true, Christ, said Dalart Peter. And upon this
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rock I found my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against
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it. Well, if Protestants are right, the church founded by Jesus Christ
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was defeated by the gates of Hell. And if that be the case,
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Jesus can't be God. So we'll get much more into this in the coming
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days and weeks. Now let's get toparago on the exultation of Christ. He
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states Christ humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on the cross,
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for which cause God also hath exalted him. Of course, as from
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Pholybians Philippians two eight and nine, as Saint John. As Saint John Christostom
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warns us, the exaltation of Christ referred only to his humanity. As God,
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he possessed all earthly happiness and needed no further exultation, and Saint Cyprium
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confirms which when he says that it was not the Almighty, but the humanity
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of the Almighty which was exalted zero point one. Immediately after the death of
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Christ, his soul went down in triumph into the place where the souls of
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those justified under the old law were detained. That was a doctrine formalized by
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the Fourth Lattering Council. This place called limbo, and this place is called
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limbo. It is quite distinct from purgatory, though the two places had this
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feature in common, that in neither place is there the vision of God.
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For while there is pain to be suffered in purgatory. There was none in
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Limbo. Nor was Limbo the same as hell, where pains are eternal.
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On the contrary, the souls in Limbo had some consolation referenced Luke sixteen twenty
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five through entrance to heaven, though entrance to heaven was deferred reference Hebrews nine
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eight. Hence they longed for the coming of the Savior to open to them
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the gates of heaven. Limbo is called in scripture the bosom of Abraham.
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That's Luke sixteen twenty two. The prison one Peter three nineteen. Our Lord
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called the place paradise Luke twenty three forty three, because by his arrival the
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prison house would be turned into paradise. After the death of Christ, Limbo
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ceased to exist. There were in that place, among others, Adam and
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Eve, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David,
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Isaiah, Daniel, job Tobias, the foster father of Christ, Saint
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Joseph, of course, and many others, including those of Noah's contemporaries who
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had done penance and repeited at the flood. On Peter three twenty Christ went
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down into Limbo to announce to the souls detained there the news of the redemption,
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and to set them free. Christ went down to announce to the souls
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in Limbo that he had accomplished the redemption one Peter three nineteen. Saint Epiphanius
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Epithanius I guess tells us that the soul of Christ, united with the Godhead,
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went into Limbo, and Saint Irenaeus says that the Lord spent three days
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there. According to s Ignatius of Antioch, our Lord returned with a large
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company of souls. He went, says Saint Cyprian, like a great king
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who delivers his subjects from prison where they have been kept. In endurance,
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Christ revealed himself also to the souls in Hell, and they were compelled to
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bow the knee before him. That's Philippians two ten point number two. On
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Easter Sunday, before sunrise, Christ wrote Glorious from the tomb by his own
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almighty power. Christ often foretold that he would rise again on the third day
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Luke twenty three thirty three. He compared himself to Jonah in Matthew twelve forty.
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On the occasion of his driving the money sellers out of the temple,
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he said, of his own body, destroy this temple, and in three
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days I will raise it up John two nineteen. He claimed the power of
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laying down his life and taking it up again John ten eighteen. When it
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is said in Holy Scripture that the Father raised him Romans six' four and
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eight eleven, it is meant that Christ is one with the Father, and
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all that Christ does, the Father does also. The resurrection is a most
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undoubted fact. The Jews asserted that the disciples had stolen the body of Christ,
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that's Matthew twenty eight thirteen. Such an act was far beyond their power.
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The great stone that was that covered the sepulture could not have been moved
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without waking at least some of the guards, besides the Saint. Augustine says,
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these could not be accepted as witnesses if they were asleep, And it
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is a remarkable circumstance that the soldiers were not punished for their breach of duty.
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Many freethinkers urge us that the Christ was dead only in appearance, and
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that after an interval, recovered from his swoon and left the grave. In
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other words, he was in a coma. The pain and loss of blood
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flowing the pain and loss of blood flowing on the scourging and crying with thorns
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alone would have been enough to cause death, and as would the wound in
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his side alone, so great that Saint Thomas could thrust his hand in the
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wound that would have been fatal. Even when Christ was going to the place
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of execution, he was too weak to carry his cross. How could he,
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after thirty six hours in the tomb, remove the wrappings of his grave
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clothes, roll away the stone, and make his way out on feet yet
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fresh from the wounds of the nails. The death of Christ was officially verified
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and reported to Pilot Mark fifteen forty five, and his bones were broken by
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the soldiers because they saw that he was dead. John nineteen thirty three.
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The blood and water which flowed from the side of Christ after the piercing with
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the lance were a sign of death. John nineteen thirty four. His Holy
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Mother and his friends would never have placed him in the tomb unless he had
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been dead. All the evangelists agree in testifying to the death of Christ.
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The risen Lord bore in his body the five wounds, and it had the
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property of agility, subtlety, clarity, and impassibility. Christ retained the five
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wounds, for he ordered the unbelieving apostle to place his finger in the wounds
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of the nails, and his hands in the hand of the wounds of his
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side. John twenty twenty seven. Our Lord would keep the marks of the
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wounds in heaven to show us that he would not forget us, bearing in
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his hands, as Saint Bernard said, the writ of our redemption written in
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his own blood. Saint Ambrose adds that our Lord bore these wounds to be
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a perpetual reminder to his heavenly fore of the price of our redemption. To
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renew the sacrifice of the cross forever in heaven. Christ rose again to prove
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to us that He is God and that we too are to rise again.
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Christ is the first fruits of them that sleep one Corinthians fifteen twenty. And
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as Christ our head rose, so shall we rise again. So reference to
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Saint ironaeis he called first his body. He called first his own body to
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life. Later he will call the members of his mystical body to share in
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its life. That's from Saint ath Nauseus. I think it's the way you
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pronounce that name. The hope of the Resurrection was Job's consolation in his troubles
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through Christendom. Easter is celebrated Throughout Christendom. Easter is celebrated as the Feast
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of the Resurrection. In the Old Testament, the patial Sabbath was kept in
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remembrance of the delivery from the Egyptian yoke among Christians. In accordance with the
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decision of the Council of Nicea and three twenty five AD to celebrate on the
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first Sunday after the full moon, which comes next after the spring equinox.
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In consequence, Eachster may fall anywhere between the twenty second of March and the
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twenty fifth of April. The heathen wakes to a new spiritual life in the
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waters of baptism, hence the blessing of the font on Holy Saturday, and
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all those who perform their Easter duties have a spiritual resurrection from the dead Romans
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six four. In the words of Saint Ambrose, if we are to rise
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from the grave of the flesh, we must first rise from the grave of
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our sins. The patial candle, which is blessed on Holy Saturday, is
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on account of its five incense grains, which represent the five Wounds, a
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figure of our Lord, and it is lighted at all services till Ascension Thursday.
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The Easter eggs are a type of the resurrection. Just as the young
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bird breaks from the shell, so will mankind arise again from the earth.
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The season itself is typical of the new life and the reawakening of nature.
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You know, many misguid Protestants say that the Easter egg, you shouldn't have
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that for Easter because that's a pagan symbol, because you know, some pagan
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group at some point used eggs as a symbol. Well, Christians have always
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looked at the Easter egg as symbolic of the resurrection of the Lord, and
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that's where we get our Easter egg tradition. And it's a nice tradition.
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There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. Protestants, once again, are just very
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confused and misguided. The Risen Lord remained forty days on earth and appeared frequently
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during this time to his disciples. Saint Ambrose tells us that Christ appeared first
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to his Holy Mother. Saint Peter was the first of the apostles to see
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the Risen Lord early in the morning of Easter Sunday. Christ appeared to Mary
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Magdalen by the sepulcher, and then to the Holy Women as they were leaving
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the grave. In the evening, he appeared to two disciples who were going
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to Ammais, and immediately after to the assembled disciples in the I think the
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words pronounce chinical. I'm not entirely sure. It's not a word of which
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I'm familiar. Ce in acl e so cinical or cynical, I'm not sure.
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He ate fish and honey in their presence, and afterwards gave them the
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power for giving sin. So the eating of fish and honey proved that he
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was truly alive. You know, a ghost doesn't eat food, so that's
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that's what that's all about. And you know, also, you know,
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vegans get all upset, and a lot of Catholic universities are teaching Catholics to
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be vegan, and they say you shouldn't eat meat or fish. Jesus did
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he ate lamb and fish, so if it's wrong for us to do it,
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it would be wrong for Jesus to do it, and of course Jesus
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could do no wrong. We really do have to drive these subtle heresies out
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of our schools, and that is Veganism is a heresy in fact, because
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it worships the creation over the Creator through a misguided sense of sentimentality. So
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we really really do need to focus on such things. But afterwards, he
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gave them the power for giving sins. That's John twenty. Look it up,
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you Protestants who are listening to this says, only God can forgive sins.
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Jesus said to his apostles, those who sins you forgive, they are
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forgiven. Those who sins you retain, they are retained. Yes, the
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Catholic Church, through Apostolic succession, gives every priest the ability to absolve one
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of sins through the power of Jesus. No other institution on earth, no
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Baptist Church, no Lutheran Church, no Anglican Church, no Methodist church,
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and go down a list can forgive men of sins. Only God and God
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through his Church and through the Church is the way God intended because he gave
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them that power. That's you know. It says, if you love Me,
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you will keep my commandments. Well, do what Jesus said, go
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to his priests and give confess. Give your confession, and they will absolve
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you of your sins. In the person of Christ, in persona ex CHRISTI.
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If you don't like it, I'm sorry. Those are the words of
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the Bible. Those who sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Those who
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sins you retain, they are retained. The priests therefore, can refuse to
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forgive someone their sins if he doesn't feel they're fully penitent, you know,
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penitent if they haven't, you know, if they haven't made restitution for the
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wrong they've done. Absolutely, that is the power God gave to his church,
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not to any other church, not to any other institution on earth.
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A judge cannot do that, a jury cannot do that. A politician can't
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do that. A king cannot forgive you your sins. Only Jesus Christ,
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through his priests, can forgive you your sins. On the following see On
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the following Sunday, he appeared again in the same house and reproved Thomas for
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his want of faith. He again appeared to the seven of the Disciples on
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the lake of Genazareth Genessareth. Nothing I said Genesareth Genessareth maybe probably hard g
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I don't know, and gave Saint Peter the authority over the apostles and the
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faithful telling him at the same time what death by which he should die.
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A more solemn occasion was the appearance to five hundred disciples on a mountain on
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a mountain in Galilee, when he gave them the command to go fourth into
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the world, teaching and baptizing Matthew twenty five to eight. Yes, he
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actually authorized his disciples to go out into the world and teach in his name.
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In his stead, he spent there forty days in speaking to the disciples
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of the Kingdom of God, Acts one three. The last appearance was on
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the occasion of his ascent into heaven. He appeared not in the night,
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but in the full light of day, not once only, but repeatedly.
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Not in some one place, but in many places. Nor nor were there
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instantaneous apparitions. But he remained some time and spoke with his apostles. The
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resurrection was a point on which the apostles testified in person. They gave no
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credit to the women who came from the grave with their account of an angel
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reference to Luke twenty four or eleven. They doubted the evidence of their own
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senses. When Christ himself appeared to him, then it was that he showed
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them his wounds and allowed them to touch him and ate in their presence.
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Thomas refused to believe the ten Apostles, and the unbelief of Saint Thomas is
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a greater help to our faith to use the words of Saint Gregory the Great
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than the belief of all the rest. In other words, Thomas proving it
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proves it to us. There was nothing of which the apostles had a stronger
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conviction than the reality, than the reality of the resurrection, and this they
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preached on the Feast of Pentecost, before the Council in the Temple, etc.
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Days after his resurrection, Our Lord ascended into Heaven from the Mount of
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Olives, and now sits in the right hand of God the Father. Before
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ascending, Christ raises hand and blessed hands, and blessed his apostles in joining
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them to preach the Gospel to all nations, and promising to be with them
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all days till the end of the world. Matthew twenty eight eighteen and Luke
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twenty four point fifty. After the ascent, two angels appeared to the apostles.
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Saint Jerome tells us that the impress of Christ's sacred feet used to be
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shown to pilgrims, where the remains now only the trace of the left foot,
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that of the right having been removed by the Turks. In other words,
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when Jesus ascended, he actually left footprints on the ground that the Muslim
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Turks, when they invaded, had tried to scrape out and erase. It
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is remarkable that from the direction of this footprint, our Lord must have been
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facing Europe as he mounted into Heaven, just as he faced it during the
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crucifixion. Christ made his ascent from the Mount of Olives, where he began
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his passion, to show us that the road to Heaven must be through suffering.
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He ascended into Heaven by his own power, not like Elias born by
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a chariot that's from King's Four Kings two to eleven, I believe, or
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like Habakuk carried by an angel that's in the Book of Dan. His escort
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into Heaven was formed of the souls released from Limbo. That's Ephesians four to
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eight. The fathers are of one mind in teaching that Christ has never descended
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in flesh in flesh from heaven since then, except during Holy Mass forty days
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after Easter, the feasts of the Assumption Thursday has kept preceded by the three
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Rogation days with their possessions, symbolic of the going out of Christ with his
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apostles to the amount of olives. Christ descended into heaven in order as man
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to enter into his kingdom, to send down the Holy Spirit to intercede with
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us, for the Father to prepare a place for us there. Christ is
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the mediator between God and man and our advocate with the Father. If says
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Saint Bernard, you fear to go to the Father turned to Jesus, who
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has been given to us as mediator, what can such a father refuse from
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such a son. Christ is often likened to the sun, which sheds its
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light and warmth the heart rises into the heavens. Christ sits in the right
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hand of God, that is, as of man, He has power over
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all creatures to sit at the right hand as a mark of special honor.
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To hence, the expression Christ sits on the right hand of God is equivalent
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to Christ is next in honor to God. He is therefore above all the
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angels. God, the Father has no body, so that when we speak
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of the right hand of God, it means a Saint John Damasciene tells us
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the glory of his Godhead, of which Christ took possession in the flesh.
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The expression sits is significant of his royal and judicial powers. The words of
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Christ himself were all powers given to me in heaven and on earth. Hence
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all creatures owe him divine homage point number four. On the tenth day after
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his ascending into heaven, Christ sent down the Holy ghosts to the apostles.
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The Holy Ghost descended on Sunday about nine o'clock in the morning reference to Acts
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two fifteen. The signs accompanying his ascent descent were symbolic of his action.
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The rush of wind represented the strengthening of the will, the fire, the
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illumination of the understanding the tongues, the gift of tongues to the apostles,
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and the teaching of the Gospel to all nations. Pentecost is the day of
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the foundation of the Church, because it began on that day by the baptism
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of three thousand new members. Pentecost to celebrate fifty days after Easter Pentecost meeting
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fifty. In the Old law, this day was celebrated fifty days after the
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Exodus and memory of the promulgation of the Commandment on Mount Sinai. On Mountain
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Sion, as on Mount Sinai, was God's will declare to make lightning and
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thunder, and in both cases fifty days after the release, in one instance
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from bottom, in the other instance from spiritual slavery. It is the custom
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to bless the font in memory of the three thousand who are baptized on that
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day. The Saturday proceeding was always observed as a fast day, that like
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the Apostles, we might prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The
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Sunday following with Sunday is Trinity Sunday. And on the Thursday following, and
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on the Thursday following is kept the feast of Corpus Christi, or the Body
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of Christ. At the end of the world, Christ will come again to
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judge all men. And that's gonna wrap this one up for today. I
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hope you've enjoyed it. Tomorrow we will get into the person of the Redeemer,
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Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, the son of God made man very very
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interesting. You know what's better than to spend time thinking about Jesus for a
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Christian to do right? So I hope you're enjoying this as much as I
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am. Y'all, have a great day. In the words of Saint Padre
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Pio, pray, hope and don't worry, and I'll talk to you tomorrow. M