[00:00] In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Gospel reminds us that our heart's fulfillment, our heart's desire will only be found in Jesus, that He is the bread which nourishes us both spiritually and physically, that it is our relationship with Christ, our faith in Christ, our union with Christ that gives us strength

[00:31] each day to carry out God's will and to persevere in serving God in our daily life, but also that Jesus not only unites Himself to us spiritually, but also is truly present in the Holy Eucharist in His body, blood, soul, and divinity, which nourishes us, strengthens us, and unites Himself to us in His Eucharistic presence to help us in this most beautiful way.

[01:04] Today in the liturgy we honor St. Conrad of Parzham. St. Conrad was a Capuchin. He died in 1894, and his job for 41 years at the friary of St. Anne in Altötting, Germany, was porter, meaning he was the friar assigned to answer the door. This particular friary was a busy friary because it was connected to the Marian shrine of Our Lady of Altötting, and so there would be many pilgrims who would come to the friary seeking

[01:36] counsel, seeking assistance for one thing or another, and St. Conrad for 41 years, this was his job in which he carried it out with great charity and patience, greeting pilgrims, assisting them in their needs, and in this being sanctified as he was sanctified through this assignment in spending time in prayer and contemplation, but also in works of charity.

[02:06] It is said that he would often give visitors a glass of beer, which the friars had brewed. The friars would brew a certain beer there at this friary to give strength to pilgrims, and he would give them a glass of beer. It is also said he would fulfill his task with the greatest detail, meaning that once a person came to the door seeking a particular priest for confession, and St. Conrad looked

[02:40] throughout the friary for this priest, one would say that in a certain sense if one could not find them in their room or in a place, he would give up and just say, "Sorry, I can't find him," but not Conrad. He went in search of this priest until he found him in the bell tower of the church. He had gone to the bell tower in order to pray and to reflect in preparing a homily. St. Conrad did not just go to one place or another to look for him, but he went until

[03:14] he found the priest. And also he was known for his patience, and it's said that the local boys would often just test his patience ringing the bell eight or ten times running away, and he would go to the door each time, saying that he would go to the door as long as his feet carried him, no matter what. And he had a beautiful motto in life, and that was to love and suffer as he contemplated

[03:45] the infinite love of God for His lowliest creatures, meaning that he would contemplate God's love for us, His lowliest creatures, and this would inspire him, inspire him in loving and serving God. And he said his favorite book was the Crucifix, the cross in which he would contemplate. And what's perhaps most inspiring is that St. Conrad shows us that it's in simple tasks that we can be sanctified. His assignment was to answer the door, and we just see in this that it's in simple duties

[04:19] that we can be sanctified, doing it for love of God and doing it and sanctifying that assignment for God's glory. May St. Conrad pray for us that we may see all the little things we do, we can do for God's glory, and become holy through them as we love and serve God by them. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.