1 00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:03,920 In the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, one 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:06,760 God forever. Good morning, beloved brothers 3 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:09,280 and sisters in Christ. My beloved children, what a 4 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:13,200 beautiful sight that is. You see the ancients directed 5 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:16,040 through the light. Good morning and welcome to this 6 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:21,560 morning's Eucharistic service for the 2024 Diocesan retreat. 7 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:26,560 We come together as children of God, as brothers and sisters, as 8 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:30,920 the children of one holy and one Apostolic and one universal 9 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:36,400 complete Catholic denoting universal complete church. 10 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:41,760 The past two days we have been discussing, we've, we've been 11 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:48,560 engaged in activities and both social and religious and trying 12 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:53,880 to really absorb what and understand and fathom what the 13 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:57,880 theme is Peace be with us. And I'm sure if we go around, 14 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:01,800 everyone has some sort of an understanding what we've been 15 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,640 discussing and what the aim of this retreat has been. 16 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:08,520 And it's so beautiful. The gospel reading is so 17 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:11,040 beautiful today. It's befitting for our retreat 18 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:14,240 because we see when we read the Gospels in the ministry of 19 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,720 Christ, in his three years of life on earth, he was constantly 20 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:23,200 being approached and asked questions, and they constantly 21 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:25,480 asked in question. They questioned him because they 22 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:29,600 wanted to somehow find a fault in him, to capture him. 23 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:34,320 So it was like for three years, Jesus just took it. 24 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:38,200 He took whatever they dashed out on him. 25 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:42,040 He replied to them. He never backed away from a 26 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:47,080 question, never backed away from a challenge, replied to them in 27 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:53,560 love, in peace, in harmony, and through the Holy Scriptures. 28 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:59,080 And each time they would ask him a question, he would not 29 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:02,560 directly reply to that question. When you read the scriptures, 30 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:05,720 you think maybe Jesus is trying to avoid the questions. 31 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,720 He would come back and ask them and reply them with another 32 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:12,760 question, and he would catch them. 33 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,320 But now as we approach through the Gospels, obviously we're 34 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:19,080 approaching the birth of Jesus Christ. 35 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:22,800 But through the Gospels we're approaching the capture of Jesus 36 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,040 Christ before he leaves the earth. 37 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:31,760 He then confronts his opposers, not so much enemies, those who 38 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:34,960 oppose them continuously. He approaches them with a 39 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:39,320 question and asks them, who do you say is Christ? 40 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:47,360 They had a perfect understanding of who Christ was or is the 41 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:52,520 Messiah, the promised Messiah who would come and deliver the 42 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:56,840 Jews from the hands of the Romans and restore all their 43 00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:02,200 lands and their authority. They had that understanding and 44 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:06,080 for three years Jesus praised me to his name. 45 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:12,360 Fulfilled, not abolished. When you hear some, some 46 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:16,200 preacher or someone get up on TikTok and and rap, I remember 47 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:19,880 this so many years ago, rapping and you know, Jesus came, he 48 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:22,320 abolished every law. Jesus did not abolish law. 49 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:24,880 He actually fulfilled all the laws. 50 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:29,600 And yet they were so stubborn, they couldn't understand. 51 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:33,920 They didn't stop for a minute and say and think, Oh well, 52 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:39,000 money there. He's fulfilling laws, his birth. 53 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:44,240 He's escaped to Egypt. The the, the, the star, the 54 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:49,640 Maggies, the wise man who came, They were so stiff necked and 55 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:51,800 stubborn. And he healed. 56 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:55,600 He raised the dead. You know what intrigues me most 57 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,880 is this. A cripple cannot walk. 58 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:03,680 For 38 years, he's been thrown by a wall and he's begging. 59 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,640 He's crippled Jaria. He's waiting for someone to help 60 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:10,080 him. For 38 years, these people would 61 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,320 have been going past and and seeing him and then maybe just 62 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,760 Miskina. What we say, what we do, Sharia, 63 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:21,320 Miskina just walked past and then Jesus heals him. 64 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,360 Yes, he was on a Sabbath. He was on a Sabbath. 65 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:27,560 Jesus heals him. You know what their problem was? 66 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,000 You know why they were ticked off? 67 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:33,200 They didn't care about this man is now walking. 68 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,280 They didn't even ask him what's happened, how did this happen? 69 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:40,600 They approach him and say who healed you on the Sabbath? 70 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:44,800 Didn't care about the well-being of this man. 71 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:47,480 And then they confront Jesus again. 72 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:49,080 Why are you healing on the Sabbath? 73 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:52,240 I should have a Shidani. And honestly, these people are 74 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:54,680 really stick and to date they are stiff naked. 75 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:56,840 By the way. By the way, let me give you an 76 00:04:56,840 --> 00:05:00,280 amazing news and this shouldn't surprise us. 77 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:02,240 And you know, we start beating the drum. 78 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:04,320 You're just we know this, we know this. 79 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:14,920 They just found evidence in Jerusalem in mosaics 1800 years 80 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:18,880 ago. So 200 years give or take after 81 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:22,600 Jesus Christ. They have found an inscription 82 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:28,520 that says God, Jesus Christ, praise his name, praise we don't 83 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:30,040 need. You know, everyone's Robbie. 84 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:32,120 Look at this. The first person said to me was 85 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:34,440 Kirk, my son-in-law. Robbie used to check this out. 86 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:36,360 You know, I said, yeah, oh, praise God. 87 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:38,960 But why he's surprised? Why he's surprised? 88 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:42,080 For my 20 years old priesthood, I've been jumping up and down 89 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:45,240 and telling people Jesus is God, Jesus is God. 90 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:50,080 But for our critiques, for those who are against Jesus Christ, 91 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:53,480 there's your evidence 1800 years. 92 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:56,520 And now it's been proven scientifically number one, that 93 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:00,800 yes, this this mosaic is 1800 years. 94 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,480 That doesn't prove Jesus is God. But then when the scholars come 95 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:11,160 and read the inscriptions, they say Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Netanyahu 96 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:15,320 and and Mr. What's the Ayatollah's name in Iran? 97 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:19,440 And Mr. XI Chambu of your Buddhas and Mr. Bakwan of your 98 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:22,640 Hindus. Jesus is God, praise be to his 99 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:25,920 name. And they didn't understand that. 100 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:29,880 But today, thank you, Lord, you seal them. 101 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:35,520 So Jesus confronts them. Who do you say this Christ is 102 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:38,280 now and you know, shooting from the hip? 103 00:06:38,280 --> 00:06:41,280 Harisha, let me let me give you this guy, this answer. 104 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:43,600 He's the son of David. They were right. 105 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,760 Yes, Jesus was the son of David in humanity. 106 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:49,440 He was from the tribe of David. Like we have the Mushabbas. 107 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:53,400 This guy, when he is Mushaba, he wants to jump and praise the 108 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:56,520 praise the Lord, right? He was the son of David. 109 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:00,720 Matt Mariam was from the lineage of David, right? 110 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:02,760 They were right, but they stopped there. 111 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,200 Then Jesus knowing their heart. You know why? 112 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:10,480 Because he is God. Jesus is God, knowing their 113 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:14,680 hearts, knowing their motives, just like right now, Jesus knows 114 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:16,720 my motive. You don't know what I'm what's 115 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:18,520 going in my mind. I don't know what's going 116 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:22,160 through your mind. He is God, He examines the mind 117 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:24,000 and the heart. He said, OK, well let me ask you 118 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:28,520 a question then. If Jesus is the son of David or 119 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:33,240 if the Messiah is the son of David, So why is David the son 120 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:37,000 of the Messiah calling him Lord? Now let me ask you a question 121 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:40,280 guys. Raise your hand if ever your dad 122 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:43,840 called you my Lord. Actually, you requested all of 123 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:45,800 that to your battle. My Lord. 124 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,400 We may, we may refer to our fathers as Lord. 125 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:52,960 Let me tell you something, my beloved sisters and I pray that 126 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:56,880 that this is the type of relationship in a marriage that 127 00:07:56,880 --> 00:07:59,800 we go back to our our understanding, our forefathers 128 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:01,840 understanding. You know, the wife would call 129 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:04,200 her husband Lord, your Lord. Lord God. 130 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:06,840 Yeah, Yeah. She would call the Lord just 131 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:08,560 right. Sarah would call Abraham Lord. 132 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:11,640 Lord not meaning your. I'm your, I'm your material. 133 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:12,720 You do whatever you want with me. 134 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:14,520 No, no, no. That's the Middle Eastern 135 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:19,800 understanding Lord, meaning you are my head, you are my Lord. 136 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:24,160 I've been betrothed to you now, just like Jesus is the Lord of 137 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:25,840 the church. I am the church. 138 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:30,120 I'm going to produce children and you are my Lord just like 139 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:34,000 Jesus is Lord. So you never you've never I'm 140 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:39,039 not I'm I'm I could be. I am 100% sure a a father never 141 00:08:39,039 --> 00:08:43,159 refers to his son as Lord. So now he's saying well if David 142 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:46,520 is the son of the Messiah, why is David? 143 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:51,240 And he quotes scripture again. Why is David calling his son 144 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:54,600 Lord from that point onwards? I love this scripture. 145 00:08:54,880 --> 00:09:03,120 From that point onwards no one dared to answer and from that 146 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:07,280 point no one dared to ask him any more questions. 147 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:13,160 He slammed up them, he hammered them, he put them in their place 148 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:18,560 with 11 simple question, one simple question. 149 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:22,600 See, this is the peace that we have from our Lord Jesus Christ. 150 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:29,280 Beloved, he is God, your Lord, you're Jesus, you're Jesus that 151 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,120 we were singing. We will follow Jesus and we're 152 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:34,120 going to sing it again. And I think everyone should sing 153 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:37,360 it when we're when we're communion, we will follow. 154 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:39,960 Why? Why do we follow Jesus? 155 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:41,920 Have you heard the song? You know they come up to you. 156 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:43,920 Do you know Jesus? Do you know Jesus? 157 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:49,520 When people ask you, do you know Jesus, say no, I don't, Don't. 158 00:09:49,560 --> 00:09:51,000 I don't know Jesus. What? 159 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:52,440 And you call yourself a Christian? 160 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:53,840 You don't know Jesus? No. 161 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:55,640 Do you know Jesus? Of course I do. 162 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:58,680 Who is Jesus? He's the Son of God. 163 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:05,280 Do you actually understand that? Do you understand the Father and 164 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:07,800 the Son and the Holy Spirit? Do you understand the Spirit? 165 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:11,160 You know This is why there's a there's an issue with infant 166 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:13,200 baptism, right? Because they don't understand. 167 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:15,760 Who understands who? I don't understand. 168 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:17,880 I don't. But there's one thing I know 169 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:23,440 I've accepted him as my Lord and my Saviour and I want to 170 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:25,080 experience his life. That's all. 171 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:27,520 I don't need to know. I won't know. 172 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:32,640 I can't know. I cannot fathom because he is 173 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:34,960 greater than my thoughts and my understanding. 174 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:38,760 I know he is gracious. I know he loves the world. 175 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:43,040 He loves the world. You don't drive by any red light 176 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:46,400 streets, 9th St. in in Modesto, right? 177 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:49,560 Those that are selling their bodies, those that are now 178 00:10:49,560 --> 00:10:54,560 shooting up and most probably OD ING those that are right at this 179 00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:58,760 moment stealing, murdering, those that are right at this 180 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:02,120 moment committing abortion, whatever it is, whatever it is, 181 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:06,280 Jesus loves every one of them. He hates what they're doing to 182 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:14,680 themselves and knowing what we have not fathoming and 183 00:11:14,680 --> 00:11:19,320 understanding in its fullness. No one, no one can one of the 184 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:21,320 church fathers mother from rubber rights. 185 00:11:21,680 --> 00:11:27,680 The more you try to draw near to God in understanding not I want 186 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:31,120 to draw me to God because I want to let go of my sins and my 187 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:33,040 transgressions. I want to have a relationship 188 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:33,840 with God. No, no, no. 189 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:37,360 The more you want to go in and say I want to know, I want to 190 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:40,840 know, I want to know, the further you will be driven away 191 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:43,480 because we cannot know. But there's one thing we know, 192 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:46,640 beloved, that cross that he was hanging on. 193 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:51,040 That's the peace that he brought for you and I the Peace of Mind 194 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:58,280 is this that Jesus is the with a definite article, the Son of 195 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:02,960 God. Jesus is the Lord Jesus is God 196 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:05,960 praise his name and that peace that he brought. 197 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:09,520 And you know what, let me tell you, Let me confess confession 198 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:15,640 time when we were driving here, I was such a not scared. 199 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:18,840 I was concerned because I thought, I don't think we 200 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:22,600 prepared enough for this, for this retreat like we did with 201 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:26,080 others, right, because we're, we're such a rusty and I was 202 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:28,240 thinking, well, I hope they, you know, everyone gets along. 203 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:33,040 But the past two days, I glorify God first and foremost, and I 204 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:35,960 thank you. I thank you and God bless you. 205 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:40,800 I was looking in your faces when we were up there by the cross. 206 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:43,320 Everyone was just joyous and happy. 207 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:45,760 There was peace in our heart, right? 208 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:48,240 I had so much peace. I was trying to prank people 209 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:49,920 with insects. Well then thanks. 210 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:54,360 I was so joyous and seeing everyone just mingle together. 211 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:59,920 And your, your promptness, I should say, being at the 212 00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:03,920 services, God bless you. This just goes to show, this 213 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:08,760 just proves two things #1 Allah, whatever you've been praying 214 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:12,560 for, whatever you've had in your minds, rest assured God has 215 00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:14,800 heard it. Wait for His perfect timing. 216 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:19,840 And secondly, that the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ is truly 217 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:22,320 dwelling in your hearts. So what do you do from here? 218 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:26,640 Go back to your parishes. Go back to your parishes in a 219 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:28,960 way where people say what's wrong with you've changed that 220 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:32,520 when people say you've changed, glorify God. 221 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:36,720 Have a change for good, huh? When people say you look more 222 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:38,600 beautiful, you're glowing. What's wrong? 223 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:42,040 You've changed, you say, well, thank the Lord because I have 224 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:46,280 Christ's peace in my heart. And may that peace be with you 225 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:49,480 wherever you go, as you go back to your parishes, you're going 226 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:51,480 to start, I'm going to I'm going to rain on your parade. 227 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:53,640 You're going to go back to school, you're going to go back 228 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:56,000 to work. Take that peace with you 229 00:13:56,320 --> 00:14:00,440 reflected manifested as Ravi Asha John said reflected upon 230 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:04,120 others so that they will say why is this peace? 231 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:08,160 Then you pull up that that YouTube and say just look at 232 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:12,680 this discovery that this is the peace of Jesus Christ our Lord 233 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:14,680 our God. Praise be to His name, now and 234 00:14:14,680 --> 00:14:16,920 at all times and forever. Amen.