Herod did not want to harm St. John, but because of the oath and because of his friends and
his military officers and leading men of the country, he gave in to that pressure to put
St. John to death, even though he knew he was a righteous man. Because of that peer pressure,
that human respect he gave in, that weakness of character that he had, he gave in.
And he didn't have a good heart. He didn't have the fear of God in his mind at all.
Even the daughter of Herodias was coming and dancing. We're sure that
dance was a lewd dance. And he was overcome perhaps with lust for her.
So he was a very weak man, an evil man to kill somebody. And his friends were probably
guilty of that kind of violence as well. So he was weak and he gave in to that human respect.
And we can think of ourselves and our own weaknesses,
and pharmacies of our day in human respect.
And you look at, you know, a recent event where
the Obama Administration is now making all health care institutions to provide insurance
that will pay for contraception, sterilization, and even abortifacient pills in our day.
It's reminding us of what happens in the human world. And that's why the way these policies, economies, and our society are moving in other directions,
us of what happened in 1963 when abortion was made legal and what kind of opposition was was
presented by the catholic church by the bishops at the time it was weak the opposition was weak
and the fight was weak and so we have it this evil in our our land this is another another blow
to the catholic church the catholic faith it's really a an assault to our conscience
and what kind of fight is going to be presented to it against it what kind of opposition in the
part of the bishops and the part of catholics already it's weak you know there are a couple
of bishops that have spoken strongly against it and have said that the administration has
said to hell with the
catholic church
Church and they are forcing this upon the Catholic Church Catholic faith which
is really what it is it's against all all health care institutions have to do
this and they are given one year to do it and but it's really aimed at the
Catholic Church because we are the ones that have have the the most of the
hospitals and I remember in the beginning of this administration that I
said you know that their their focus and their aim and their efforts are are
really to impose impose and to destroy the church destroy the Catholic Church
because Catholic Church is the greatest opposition to this this kind of
mentality this anti-life anti pro against population and I was saying to
myself and you know many others are saying that they're going to try to take
over the
the community the difference is what the Catholic levels are the the movement
the Catholic hospitals
and then what do they do after that
probably take over the Catholic
schools and
take over
everything and that's what's really being
it's like an octopus they're taking over
one thing after another
and this is where it is
and that's fine if they take over the Catholic
hospitals that's fine
but what is not fine
is if we let them do it without a fight
you know
we have to, this is really
an act of war, this is like a
missile shot against
the Catholic Church right in the midst of
us, what are we going to do
it's really an act of war
and it should be
treated that way and it should be fought
we're fighting
the fight of our Catholic faith
of what is right and what is good
our own conscience
force us to pay for
abortions, force us to
promote
contraception, they're going to force us
and many of the
bishops are saying that we will not
we will not obey this unjust law
and we'll see
we'll see, but we as Catholics
we need to have this
mentality of
fighting
fighting this great evil that is
coming our day, we cannot give in to
human respect
we cannot be lazy
we have to stand up, we have to speak
we have to stand up, we have to speak
we have to stand up, we have to speak
we have to fight, we have to pray
we have to pray, we have to sacrifice
and that's what we must
do and that's what was not done
here of course, Herod didn't do it
in his kingdom, he gave in to
that human respect
and he gave in to his lust
and we
in this lust
in this kingdom
this court of Herod
must have been full of
impurity, full of
the mire, full of
this
cesspool of impurity
there and in many ways
we are full of that in our
day, it is a cesspool
of impurity in our day
when we look at the internet
when we look at the impurity
everywhere in society
you know, perhaps you and your family
and your upbringing, you are sheltered
I know
we friars, I myself have been
sheltered for 14 years
in my religious life
we're sheltered and if you're brought up
with a good family
you're sheltered from a lot of the mire
and a lot of the stuff
and so maybe you don't even know
I can say I don't even know
all the misery and all the
abuse and all the sadness
and all the impurity
that is in the world
today and in most families
only the devout
Catholic families are
sheltered and so we don't see that
so we don't even know
but maybe you have been exposed to it
maybe some
of you have been exposed to it
we know it is rife
it is everywhere
there is a cesspool
in our country and in the world
and we need to
do all we can to protect
our children, to protect ourselves
to protect everyone we can
help and
prevent from the sin
from spreading and that's what we
that is the first thing we have to do
we have to protect, we have to get out of our
life, out of our families
out of our own sight
we have to put out of our sight
those kinds of temptations
that's the first thing, the easiest thing to do
is to put out of our sight temptations
occasions of sin
easiest thing, first thing
even before prayer and the sacraments
we must put out of our sight temptations
to evil, put out of that
out of our home the alcohol
that is causing alcoholics to sin
put out of our sight the impurity
and so we put our safeguards on the computer and on the
television to put all those safeguards
and that's our duty and our obligation and our first duty
and a strict obligation for
families, for
religious institutes, for superiors
I have to put
put protections in the
in the friary
you have to put protections in your family
and that's a serious obligation
that you have to do
and
and then we have this void
we have this void of
of
of this evil
what do we do? we replace it
what do you do if you're not
your children are not watching television or not watching movies or not watching
too much entertainment, what do you do?
we have to replace it with good things, holy things
replace it with work especially
you know work is such a powerful thing it protects
you know
I was just reading the life of Edith Stein, Saint Edith Stein
the Jewish woman who converted and died in Auschwitz
she was brought up in a good Jewish family where they were devout they were hard
workers
and the custom in her family was to put
the children to work
at the age of four or five years old
at that age they were they were learning to sew, they were learning to
do different works around the house
and that
and
You know, what are we doing today with our children?
We teach them work, hard work, and to be diligent, not to be lazy.
And to think of work as prevents evils.
It prevents the devil's workshop from taking place.
It prevents many evils and prevents sin.
It prevents waste of time.
But it's also, think of all the good things that work does.
It teaches discipline.
You know, we get things accomplished and they learn to, their duty, we learn to discipline in duty.
And so many good things come from work.
And it is a virtue to be industrious and to learn to be hardworking and to learn from the youth.
Work should be a given.
It should be a given that I must do this.
I must do my duty.
I must not waste time and not be lazy and slothful.
And so this is one of the things we have to do.
And even in religious life, it's one of the first things in our formation houses,
first things I look at, first things our other superiors look at,
and those who enter the community and those who are novices,
are they hardworking?
And if they're lazy, that's not good.
That's the first sign of those things that had to be weeded out.
Any lazy, even that's, even St. Francis did that too.
He had a friar who was lazy and it was, he called him the brother fly and he was gone quickly.
And that's the first thing we need to root out is laziness.
And because laziness leads to many, many sins, it's a capital sin and leads to impurity in our world.
And we need to, to replace that slothfulness, that waste of time,
that leads to sin, replace it with work and diligence, work, you know,
work making things and doing things, but also cleaning.
Cleanliness is next to godliness and cleanliness leads to order,
putting disorder out of our life and disorder and dissipation.
Dissipation is the same thing as disorder or your life is scattered.
You don't know what you're doing.
We need to order our life and plan it out.
You know, if we just go with,
the flow we just do the next thing that happens, just turn to the next channel,
to just do what everyone else wants us to do, we become disordered.
You know, we have to order our life and we need to plan out our life,
plan out our day and what we need to do.
That's what, that's one of the teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola who's saying, you know,
we have bad habits in your life, you're trying to straighten out your life, you need to think,
you need to plan out, and that's, plan out your day,
plan out what you're going to do to overcome bad habits and what am I going to do with my day.
I just don't know what to do.
I don't know how to have a prayer life or how to get things done, you know.
I just get overwhelmed by everything and by the mess in my family,
by the mess in my church, by the mess in my own life.
You just sit down and think for a little bit.
For a little while and plan it out, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that,
I'm going to straighten this out in my life, I'm going to straighten this out,
I'm going to clean up my house by taking one thing at a time and I'm going to think
about how I can help my children, how I can help my husband, help my wife, help myself.
I need to plan it out, think it out and it's so much easier, so much easier once you plan it out,
order your life and this is a, this is one way to fill
in the void of the bad things that are happening in the world.
And this is how we really, sanctity is an ordered life, is an ordered life.
We don't want to get too obsessed in regulating everyone else's life and our own life.
Of course, we have some flexibility, some freedom for ourselves and for our family
and children, you know, we don't want to have a robotic life and too much, too much control.
But there needs to be order and there needs to be order in the family life,
there needs to be order in our own spiritual life.
And when we have that, we will find that temptations to,
against chastity are going to be much less.
They're going to be, they're going to be conquered and then we turn to the sacraments and prayer
and gain that additional strength, that strength, that fortitude and that protection
that we all need to live a whole life.
Thank you.
And to stay away from evil and sin, which really ruins our life and makes us the slaves to sin.
And so let us turn to Our Lady to ask her to help us to order our life and to help our children
and our families and other people to live this kind of order, which is sanctity and holiness.
And with order comes happiness and peace and joy.
And Our Lady will give that to us.
And she will come to us.
And she will continue to enlighten us.
And we need to be totally under her, her governance, her control, her guidance.
And that's our consecration, to be completely under her guidance, our Mother in heaven.
And she will help us to serve God and to be safe in this life that's full of dangers.
And man, let's do this forever and ever, and know that
these worries that come from the source
with a steadfast faith of our own heart for the sake of God's언guy
so that it may not be reward by any sin.
Amen.
Amen.
으면 you.
Amen.
Thank you.