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Too many of you are young here, 
but who remembers Dear Abby? 

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The Dear Abby columns Remember 
Dear Abby? 

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Yeah, it's an advice column, 
probably the most popular advice

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column in the English speaking 
world, Dear Abby. 

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And very, very, very practical, 
filled with advice. 

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And many times people would sign
their name instead of saying, 

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you know, Albert, I have a 
problem. 

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Whatever it would be anonymous, 
right? 

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Like, you know, upset mother or,
you know, disgruntled Co worker,

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something like that. 
So let me share with you. 

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One of these columns disappeared
in the Dear Abby column some 

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time ago. 
Dear Abby, Happiness is not 

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having your parents scold you if
you come home late. 

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Happiness is having your own 
bedroom and getting that 

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telephone call you've been 
hoping for. 

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You can tell this was a while 
ago, right? 

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Happiness is belonging to a 
popular group at school and 

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being dressed as well as 
anybody. 

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Happiness is having a lot of 
money to spend and then he girl 

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says happiness is something I 
don't have. 

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Signed by 15 and unhappy and I 
said it's a girl because girls 

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always want more. 
Shortly after this letter was 

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published, Dear Abby got this 
letter. 

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This was a 13 year old girl. 
It says here girl. 

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So it was a girl for sure, Dear 
Abby. 

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Happiness is being able to walk 
and talk, to see and to hear. 

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Unhappiness is reading a letter 
from a 15 year old girl who can 

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do all four things and still 
says she isn't happy. 

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I can talk, I can see, I can 
hear, but I cannot walk. 

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And it was signed 13. 
Crippled but happy. 

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What do you hear in Matthew 51 
to 12:00? 

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It's the beginning of the Sermon
on the Mount. 

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Those of you who have come with 
me to the Holy Land, to Israel, 

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you've seen that beautiful 
little Church of the Beatitudes 

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right up there and then the 
Mount, and you could almost 

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imagine our Lord speaking from 
there to the people next to the 

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Sea of Galilee. 
What do you hear? 

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So the word beatitude is a word 
that comes from the Latin and 

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from the traditional biblical 
languages. 

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It means to be abundantly 
blessed, to be very blessed, to 

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be blessed beyond measure. 
It's about blessedness and being

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blessed, being full of 
blessings. 

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That's where this word beat 
attitude comes from. 

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But today, as we pay close 
attention to what Jesus is 

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saying, it can sound a bit 
romantic. 

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Blessed are the poor in spirit, 
and who wants to be poor, And 

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blessed are those who mourn and 
who wants to mourn. 

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Blessed are the meek, the meek, 
the humble. 

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Blessed are they who hunger, Who
wants to be hungry. 

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It's interesting because 
something happens with the 

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Beatitudes that also happens 
with the commandments. 

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If you look at the 10 
commandments, the first 3 or 4 

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have to do directly with our 
relationship with God, and one 

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of them is keep holy the Sabbath
day. 

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Oh, did I say that that means 
show up to church? 

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The first 3 commandments have to
do with your relationship with 

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God and the others have to do 
with your relationship with 

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others, other human beings, 
starting with your parents and 

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everyone else. 
How we should behave? 

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Well, that happens with the 
Beatitudes. 

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We just don't pay attention. 
If you think about it, the first

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one, blessed are the poor in 
spirit, for theirs is the 

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Kingdom of heaven. 
It has to do with an attitude 

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from within. 
And the poor in spirit has 

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nothing to do with how much you 
have in your bank account. 

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The poor in spirit means that 
you recognize that your riches 

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aren't here on this earth, that 
your riches are in heaven. 

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It's talking about the spiritual
wealth, not the material one. 

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And blessed are those who mourn.
Well, he's not saying to be sad 

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all the time, and he's not 
saying to to stay sad because of

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things are lost, for they will 
be comforted. 

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It means we are lacking here, 
but in the presence of God we 

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will have everything we need. 
We are all lacking here. 

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If you think about it, We're all
poor in spirit because none of 

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us has absolutely everything 
that our hearts desire. 

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There's always a human longing, 
and that human longing 

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ultimately is God. 
And so in that human longing, we

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will only be comforted when 
we're in the presence of God 

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forever. 
What they used to call him, the 

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old catechism, the beatific 
vision. 

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When you're face to face before 
God and everything is fulfilled,

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that is when every longing will 
be filled and every poverty of 

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spirit will be fulfilled. 
But a poor in spirit person is 

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not one who is materially poor, 
but one that allows himself or 

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herself to be filled with the 
joy that comes from God having 

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the Lord. 
The same we can say for those 

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who are meek. 
Meek is an interesting word 

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because it's sometimes seen as 
humble. 

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We have a tendency in our world 
to think of meek as someone who 

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kind of, you know, downplays 
themselves a lot. 

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The self effacing person. 
Latinos love this, you know, my 

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people love this, they say and 
when you meet all day, they're 

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very humble. 
They love that. 

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And the more you pound your 
chest, the more humble you are. 

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But I'm here to tell you, being 
meek has nothing to do with 

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that. 
Blessed are the meek, for they 

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will inherit the earth. 
Means the meek are the ones who 

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realize that whatever it is that
they have in this world, whether

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it's your title, your socio 
economic position, whether it's 

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your degrees or whatever 
advancement you'd be able to 

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make, it's nothing in comparison
to the greatness of God. 

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Because guess what, with all 
that greatness, those who are 

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truly meek will inherit the 
earth. 

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The whole thing, true humility. 
Blessed are the pure in heart, 

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just my favorite one. 
Blessed are the pure in heart 

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for they will see God. 
Do you remember when Jesus said 

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let the children come to me 
because of such as these as the 

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Kingdom of heaven? 
This is what Jesus is speaking 

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about when he says the pure of 
heart. 

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Have you spoken to a child and 
looked into their eyes and seen 

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the purity that shines through? 
That's what Jesus is talking 

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about. 
Pure of heart means that you're 

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not cluttered with all that 
stupidity that comes with age 

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and and the advancement of life.
Sometimes it's envy or jealousy 

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or you want to have what others 
have. 

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You want to do what others have.
Do you want to always? 

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You know, no purity of heart 
means you're free before God. 

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You're completely free. 
And purity of heart is something

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we're called to have. 
And when we're pure of heart, 

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then Jesus says, for they will 
see God. 

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Can you see God? 
Because the pure of heart can 

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see God. 
You see God in the smile of a 

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child, in the innocence of a 
child. 

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You see God in the beauty of 
creation. 

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Every time you get up in the 
morning and you look up and you 

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see the beautiful sky and the 
sun, you can see God. 

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Sometimes people can take these 
too literally. 

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Yesterday I had a wedding down, 
down, down, way South, and the 

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bride said I'm getting married 
outside no matter what. 

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Did you see the weather 
yesterday? 

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Not just when I said cold and 
windy, it was rainy, cold, windy

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and might take nasty weather. 
But she had to get married 

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outside. 
So the priest of course, had all

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this stuff on. 
You know the big long black 

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outfit, you know the get up. 
I had this. 

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I had my overcoat. 
It wasn't enough. 

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I was freezing. 
But she wanted to get married 

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outside. 
So for 45 minutes, friends and 

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family, everyone gathered so 
that the bride could get married

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outside. 
I sprinkle the holy water on the

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rings and stuff and I think it 
became ice. 

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It was wicked nasty, but you 
know, when they were there and I

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was watching them, beautiful 
young couple, I was thinking, 

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you know, all those girls that 
walked in the hole, what do they

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call it? 
The court? 

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No, no coats, no nothing. 
They had that little dress with 

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the I'm like man, put a coat on.
But you know, she wanted to be 

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out by nature and and God 
granted her something. 

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I must say, the bride, she 
always has a good connection 

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with God because she told the 
wedding planner, oh, it's going 

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to be clear and beautiful. 
Now, nobody believed that when 

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we went out there to sit that it
was going to be clear and 

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beautiful. 
But believe it or not, when she 

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walked in, the sky was blue, the
sun was coming out. 

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And so it got pretty for her. 
And I told her, keep praying 

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because you have a good 
connection with God. 

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So blessed are the pure of 
heart. 

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When we're pure of heart, we're 
uncluttered, we're free 

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spiritually. 
We're able to see God in the 

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simplest things. 
This is a great one for today. 

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Blessed are the peacemakers 
where they would call children 

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of God. 
Now, you may not be a world 

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leader. 
You may not be able to end wars 

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by speaking to a bunch of 
politicians or diplomats, but 

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you can be a peacemaker right 
where you are. 

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You can be a peacemaker in your 
workplace. 

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You can be a peacemaker in your 
family. 

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You can try to build bridges 
where bridges have been broken. 

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That's what Jesus is calling us 
too. 

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If we're children of God, we do 
everything we can to bring 

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people together to live in 
peace. 

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This is a tough one, and it's 
the last one. 

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Blessed are those who are 
persecuted for righteousness 

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sake, for theirs is the Kingdom 
of heaven. 

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You know, when Jesus said this 
to his disciples, he knew not 

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just that he would be persecuted
and executed on Calvary as a 

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criminal, but that his 
disciples, his apostles, would 

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go out into the world and they 
too would suffer the 

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consequences. 
But the kind of persecution that

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I think applies to us in the 
21st century as Christians is to

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realize that when you stick to 
your guns, when you stick to 

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your convention, when your 
convictions, when you follow 

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your heart, some will like it, 
some will not. 

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And that's OK because the only 
person that you have to be well 

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with is God. 
Ultimately, nothing you do will 

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satisfy everyone. 
So I say to you, be at peace 

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with following your heart and 
doing what is right. 

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Because what ends up happening 
is too many people live their 

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whole life worried about it, 
what everybody else thinks about

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them. 
My wife tells me all the time, 

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you have such thick skin, honey,
you have thick skin. 

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So Yep. 
Started working in television in

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1998. 
So my first week on television, 

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well, not my first week, my 
first month on television, 800 

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interviews, 800. 
That was the most interviewed TV

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person ever. 
And can I tell you this to some 

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people? 
I like money, which I've never 

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been materialistic. 
You can look at my shoes and 

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tells you the whole story. 
To some people, oh, I was a 

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womanizer, lots of girls. 
To other people, I was gay. 

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Never been into that. 
To other people. 

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00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:48,440
I mean, people give their 
opinions about others that they 

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don't know all the time. 
Right or wrong. 

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00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:56,920
We do it with everybody. 
We do it with pastors, we do it 

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with politicians, We do it with 
all kinds of people, right? 

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00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:06,080
And it's not when you get to 
know a person, heart to heart is

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when you get to know who they 
are. 

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You got to get to know people, 
to get to know who they are. 

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So when you feel persecuted, 
misjudged, misread, get over it.

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It's really not about you. 
I'm going to say that again. 

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Get over it. 
It's not about you. 

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It's about them. 
People who speak negatively of 

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others and have a tendency to 
say ugly things about others, 

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00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:32,320
there's something going on in 
them that's not right. 

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00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:36,960
It's not about you. 
You will never be right with 

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everyone. 
This includes family members. 

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00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,400
This includes people in your 
workplace. 

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00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:47,720
This includes people at church. 
Did I say that? 

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Yeah, I said that. 
It includes everyone. 

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You do not have to worry about 
what everybody thinks about you.

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00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:57,920
There's only one judge in heaven
on earth. 

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00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,400
It's God. 
And there's a bunch of people 

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00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:05,240
who love to play God, but guess 
what? 

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They're not God. 
There's only one God. 

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We say that in the creed, right?
Only one God. 

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So what you have to do, what you
and I have to do is be right 

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with God, be at peace with God. 
So I think in the 21st century, 

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this is something, you know, 
that applies to us a lot. 

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And you know what Jesus says if,
if you're OK with that, you can 

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get through that. 
Yours. 

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So yours will be the Kingdom of 
heaven. 

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You'll have nothing to worry 
about. 

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At the end of the day, God's 
going to bless you. 

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God's, if you follow your heart,
you do what is right. 

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You follow the way of God no 
matter what everybody else 

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thinks. 
If you're following the way of 

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God, you have a clear conscience
you have, you're trying to do 

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what's right. 
God will reward you. 

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Yours will be the Kingdom of 
heaven. 

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Wow, that's pretty good, huh? 
So at the end of the day, the 

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beatitudes are about the be 
attitudes. 

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That's made-up, but it's 
English. 

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Be be the Christian you're 
called to be be the follower of 

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Jesus, you're called to be be 
the person with the right 

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attitude. 
Be the 13 year old that 

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considered herself blessed even 
though she was crippled. 

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Don't be the 15 year old 
complainer because you don't 

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have everything you think you 
need. 

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Be the Christian that feels 
blessed and that knows that they

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are blessed and that knows that 
God is good. 

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Amen. 
In the name of the Father, Son 

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and Holy Spirit, Amen.