A Perfect Paradise

“Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur.

Can you imagine a paradise where there is no sin, no hate, no war, no suffering of any kind? It has been written about in books and poems, movies have been made about it, many men and women have spent restless nights under the stars dreaming of the very place. A utopia like this is what we all desire because we were made for it.

Journey back with me to the beginning. Imagine the state of Adam and Eve in the garden, complete love of God and each other. They had no sin and did not use the other, but only had room for love. They had no concept even of what sin was. Perfection! Sounds great right?

Well then, something happened that changed the course of history. Adam and Eve fell. They sinned against an eternal God. And the only thing that could save all of humanity is if that same eternal God became one of us and made the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. And that is precisely what Jesus did on the cross.

But the beautiful thing is that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross does not take us back to the beginning, it takes us beyond. In the garden, Adam and Eve did not experience the beatific vision, that is, they did not “see” God. They did not perfectly participate in His divinity. This is a state that is reserved for us now because God became a man. This is why the Catechism says that “God became man so that man might become God.”

This is our destiny. This should give us immense hope. So if you are still dreaming or writing about that Utopia, take faith in the fact that this is our destiny, to be happy with God forever, and that truly is good news. From all of us here at Diocesan, God Bless!

Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. Tommy has a heart and a flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. His mission and drive have been especially inspired by St. John Paul II’s teachings. Tommy is blessed to be able to learn from the numerous parishes he visits and pass that experience on in his presentations. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.

November 11, 2018November 10, 2018

Be Not Afraid

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Have you ever been at the rock bottom, feeling like you are falling into a pit of despair and hopelessness? This could come from many things; problems with family, work, friends, or health. There are many things in this world that make us feel like we are drowning.

The woman in the first reading today can relate. Here we have a prophet begging her for food and water as she knows full well that her next meal will be her last. She has already prepared for the death of her and her son after they run out of flour and oil. Mixed with this turmoil and fear she was either racked with a distrust of God or the feeling that perhaps this was the Lord’s plan for her and she had come to accept it.

Either way, she had lost hope, and was already preparing for something that she did not know for sure would happen. I am reminded of the movie, “The Mist.” In this film, the main character gives up all hope and thinks he knows what is going to happen to the group of people that he befriends. He makes a decision that results in the deaths of all those present and just as it looks like the creatures are going to take him too, the clouds part and the army comes in and saves him.

The point here is that we have two scenarios where the subject of the story acts as if they have certainty about the future, but it turns out they have no idea what God has planned. The woman with little flour prepares for her death and is then saved. The man in the movie prepares for his death as well and is saved at the last second.

Wrought with heartache and suffering, I think our first response is to give in to doubt and fear and then make decisions based entirely on this fear. But the scriptures today are very clear, “Do not be afraid.” God knows our suffering and our hurt. He is there with us.

Ok stop for a second, you have heard it before, God is with us. Have you let it sink in? Here is the reality, God exists outside of time as we know it. Theologians say He is in what we call the eternal now. This means that every moment that has ever happened or will happen is present to God right now. It was the same at the cross. When Jesus gave His life, He took on all the pain, sin, hurt, despair, and fear of the entire world and experienced it as you and I do. Don’t forget that he was a human with real emotions and he experienced pain.

This should give us such great hope because Christ conquered it all on the cross. He stared your suffering in the face and overcame it so you could one day be in heaven with Him. Don’t let this be just another time that you hear that God cares. Take five minutes today and thank God for His love and ask Him to join you in your current suffering, after all, He already conquered it. Do not lose hope. Be not afraid. From all of us here at Diocesan, God Bless!

November 3, 2018November 2, 2018

Baptized Into His Death

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“For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.”

The past few days of readings have been about death. Today we hear that death is gain and yesterday we heard that we are baptized into Christ’s death. All this death talk seems like a lot of doom and gloom, after all, death is not something that we enjoy, so how can it be something that we gain and something we are baptized into?

Do you remember the movie Alladin? At the end of the movie Jafar, the villain of the film, asks to become the most powerful genie in the entire world. Alladin grabs the lamp and reaches it to the sky as Jafar spirals into his new prison because if you have seen the movie, you know that if you are going to be a genie, you have to accept everything that goes with it. It can seem this way with death too.

As human beings, death is now a part of us, and we have to accept everything that goes with it. When we were born, we inherited the death that Adam and Eve brought into the world through sin. We lost our inheritance of perfect love with God and each other. This seems like something that enslaves us and certainly does not seem like a positive thing. So why all this talk about being baptized into Christ’s death?

Well, death can only be seen as a positive thing in this world through the lens of the cross. If we think of Christ as the new Adam who has come into the world to mend our relationship with God, then it makes sense to be baptized into His death. After all, Christ’s death is the fact that He conquered it and rose. This is what we are baptized into.

St. John Paul II once said, “He (man) is called in that truth which has been his heritage from the beginning, the heritage of his heart, which is deeper than the sinfulness inherited.” What he is saying here is that our inheritance of grace and love of God and neighbor goes far deeper than the inheritance of original sin. What Christ has done on the cross is brought us back into this inheritance that we long for, while destroying the inhertiance of sin through His ressurection. This indeed is cause for great joy.

Let us thank God for the gift of the cross, the gift that allows us to live by the original love and truth that we were given from the beginning, before sin and before death. Amen!

“For we are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song!”
-St. John Paul II

October 25, 2018October 24, 2018

Incomprehensible Love

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Wow, the first reading really spoke to my heart today. Sometimes we have problems knowing the love of God, don’t we? We know rationally that God loves us but we almost justify it as a far away detached love, kind of like the love between family members who have never met. They have a bond but it is not very deep. Since I have been married for over a week now and am pretty much a pro (haha) I can say that the type of love where we share everything, complete vulnerability, is scary. But it is also the most incredible thing that a human person can experience.

All throughout scriptures the analogy of a husband and a wife is used to describe the love between Christ and His Church. God wants to share an intimate, vulnerable, selfless love with us and have us return that love as well. This is what it is to be in a relationship. But sometimes that is really hard and scary to do. Now, are you ready for the most amazing part? God knows it is hard for us and so He helps us through it. He loves us so much that He gives us the grace to love in a complete way, and it’s even impossible without His grace.

In the first reading from today, the author of Ephesians prays that we can comprehend the love of God which surpasses all understanding. That is to say that our human minds and hearts cannot even begin to grasp the depth and beauty of the love of God. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity steps in and becomes one of us to teach us how we can love.

All throughout the scriptures we hear about covenants between God and His people. These covenants are broken time and again, but never by God. He is always the faithful one, always the one to pick us up, always the one to figure out a way. This is so beautiful. Having been married now for a little while I can say with conviction that this kind of self-giving love exists, and man is it amazing. And the love Nathalie and I share, as amazing as it is, is only a foretaste of the love we will share with God in heaven. How incredible, that God loves us so much that he wants us to experience and understand the depths of His love, a love that is incomprehensible to the human mind, but one we all desire. And he helps us get there. When we are weak He steps in with His grace and gives us the capability for a selfless love.

Let us pray for the strength to accept this free love and grace from God and to not be afraid to return it back so we can truly say we are in a relationship with Him. From all of us here at Diocesan, God Bless!

October 23, 2018

O Death Where Is Your Sting?

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“Be vigilant at all times and pray that you may have the strength to stand before the Son of Man.”

Death is a strange thing. I can still remember a moment in my childhood when I became aware of the reality of death. I remember asking my parents why everyone had to die. I think one of the most common reactions to death is uncertainty. In a world where so many things have been proven, learned and studied, death is one of those things that we still don’t know much about.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us to be ready for the end. We must gird our loins and light our lamps and await the master’s return. But He does not call us to do this out of fear or uncertainty, but rather so we can be certain that we will spend eternity with Him. He says in the first reading that He is our peace and that He will put death not to us, but to the division we have caused in our hearts.

Once He has put death to enmity, we will then be full members of the household of God. So as strange and unclear that death is, as unnatural as it is to our human condition, the thing that is really being put to death, in the end, is our sinfulness so we can rise victorious because of what Christ did for us on the cross.

You may have heard of the idea of the original sin being a happy fault because it gained for us so great a redeemer. It is kind of the same with death and the end times. These are now necessary parts of the human condition that strip away the brokenness, sin, hurt, and pain of this world so that we may go beyond death into eternal life.

This is what Christ gained for us. So when He says to be watchful and vigilant, He is calling us to have certainty that when the end comes, we will be among those good and faithful servants. He wants to replace our uncertainty with full knowledge of the world, He wants to put death to our old ways and raise us to new life, He wants us to be His people, His community, His household, happy with him forever because of the power of the cross. That is good news. God Bless!

“O Death, where is your sting?”

October 2, 2018

Childlike Faith

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“Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.” -MT 18

A child is a perfect example of living in the world but not of the world. They often have this perfect balance between awareness of a spiritual reality and yet they have not yet been influenced by the different negative forces in the world.

Many look at this and call it immaturity, they just need to grow up and experience the real world and then they will know. As if experience of the negative things in this life is what we were made for.

I like to think of a time before the original sin when Adam and Eve were in the garden. Think of how childlike they must have been, trusting and relying fully on God, loving in a way that is pure and holy just like that of a child, a humble admittance that they were created and thus not the creator.

All of this was broken however when they fell. And why did they fall? They wanted to take God’s place. They wanted the full knowledge that God had, the knowledge which Satan promised would make them like God. And it is precisely in receiving this knowledge that they became blind, less childlike, prideful, sinful, broken.

Our hearts were made for innocence, and that innocence was shattered. Thankfully we have a divine physician. If our original state in the garden could be portrayed as a beautiful stained glass window, then at the fall this window was shattered. But Jesus came and picked up those pieces one by one and put them back into place so that the original beauty of God’s plan could shine through. This is the beautiful story of redemption that we can each begin to experience even here and now.

Today is the memorial of the guardian angels. Our guardian angel was specifically appointed by God to help us see that original light and beauty and to live by it. To go back to that childlike trust which we tried to leave behind. I invite you to allow God to pick up your pieces. Let Him breathe light where there is darkness. Let Him in and see what He will do and has done for you. God Bless!

October 1, 2018

True Faith

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“The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
blessed be the name of the LORD!”

What is Faith? The dictionary defines it several ways. Some say complete trust in another. Others say a belief that is not based on proof. As Catholics, we know it is one of the Cardinal Virtues, faith, hope, and love. But do we live with complete faith in God or is our faith conditional, and therefore not faith at all?

I think of the things going on in our world and the Church. These are not easy things to deal with nor should they be taken lightly. But as our faith in the Lord and His church is shaken, what is our response? See, faith is easy when it goes untested. A child can look at the Eucharist and say, “Mommy is that Jesus,” and believe wholeheartedly that it is. But then life happens. This child’s parents maybe aren’t trustworthy in every instance. Peers and friend groups try to persuade this or that opinion. And the child naturally starts to question, and it is in this questioning and doubt that faith is strengthened and tested.

My fiance and I are getting married now in less than two weeks, and we are starting the process of buying a house and moving in all before the wedding. These are some big scary moments in every person’s life, and they put our faith to the test. Faith and trust in each other and our love that we will genuinely care for and be there for the other through thick and thin. Faith and trust in God who is moving our lives in all these exciting new directions. And faith that when the storms do come, we will have the foundation that will stand. Thank goodness God has brought me someone that I can put my faith in and He has brought us together with complete faith in Himself.

We all go through testing of faith, and for many of us, it has happened with all the recent and ongoing news in the Catholic Church. But I ask you if you were to lose everything that you owned right now who would you put your faith in? Is your faith strong enough to endure even the most tumultuous sea? I would like to say that mine is, but that’s the thing about faith. It is not based on us; it is based on something outside of ourselves, something more significant. It is a gift from God that we must ask and beg for in times where it is hard to see the good. We need to pray for a faith like Job. Let us pray for that faith. Amen!

And so one day, while his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, a messenger came to Job and said,” The oxen were plowing and the asses grazing beside them, and the Sabeans carried them off in a raid. They put the herdsmen to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

While he was yet speaking, another came and said, “Lightning has fallen from heaven and struck the sheep and their shepherds and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

While he was yet speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three columns, seized the camels, carried them off, and put those tending them to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

While he was yet speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, when suddenly a great wind came across the desert
and smote the four corners of the house. It fell upon the young people and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

Then Job began to tear his cloak and cut off his hair. He cast himself prostrate upon the ground, and said,

“Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back again. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
blessed be the name of the LORD!” -Job 1:13-22

September 28, 2018

The Truth Of The Incarnation

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“Jesus was praying in solitude.” Luke 9:18

We hear these words in the Gospel, and they can quickly fly by us like a falling leaf during the fall months, without much awareness. But these few words are so rich in there meaning. Christians believe that God is a trinity, three persons in just one God. Jesus prayed to the Father, just as we do. His human nature is such that He prays, He begs for suffering to pass, He weeps when his friend dies, He sweats blood from the pain and weight of all the sins of the world.

This mystery of the Second Person of The Trinity taking on human nature is fundamental to our salvation. St. John Paul II even says, “Through the Fact that the Word of God became flesh, the body entered theology through the main door.”

Think about this for a second. Ok now stop and actually think about it. We have a God who loves us so deeply that he takes on the form of a slave. He becomes one of us in every way except sin. Can you imagine a King who leaves his palace and lives amongst the peasants, not only to experience as they do but to help them and love them. Jesus takes this even further, He literally becomes one of us, to redeem us. That is how important we are to Him.

We can take this so far as to say that whenever we doubt the love of God, whenever we say we are not worth it, whenever we say that our sins are too many or our wounds too deep, that is as if we are standing in front of a crucifix and saying to Jesus that it was not enough. “It may have worked for others, but there is no way it could work for me, God.”

At which point Jesus looks down at us and says this is for you. If you were the only one who ever hurt me, I would become man and die just for you. I think because we have grown up hearing the story of Christ and his life, death, and resurrection, it becomes commonplace. Just like that leaf falling from the trees during the fall season. It is just something that happened. It is essential to stop, take a breath, and ground ourselves in the truth that the incarnation is a fact, that the crucifixion occurred, that it produces power in our lives, that it redeems our fallen human nature eventually to the level of divinity in heaven.

This is the joy by which we live. Have you shared it recently?

September 22, 2018

Spiritual Superheroes

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“So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible.
It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious.
It is sown weak; it is raised powerful.
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one.”

I love today’s first reading because it speaks about what happens to us at the second coming of Christ when we experience the resurrection of our bodies. Wait what? Will we have bodies even in heaven? I thought our body decayed and our spirit lived on?

The Catholic Church has always held the teaching of the resurrection of our bodies, in fact, it is mentioned in the creed. But this is not something simply made up by theologians; it is a deeply biblical truth. We see allusions to it here as well several other places in the Bible, the most important probably being the example of Jesus Himself.

After Jesus resurrected He still had His body, but with noticeable differences. He could walk through walls, He was often recognized as a ghost, so his physical appearance was somewhat different, and though there are many accounts of Him cooking and eating with His disciples, He didn’t need food to nourish His body.

This profound reality is known as spiritualization of the body, and it is one of the most exciting, I think, facts about heaven. We know that the human person is a body-soul composite. In heaven after the resurrection of the body, this unity will reach its perfection to the point that we will have the same differences that Christ did after his resurrection.

St. John Paul II talks about this in Theology of the Body. He says, “The truth about man’s destiny cannot be understood as a state of the soul alone, separated from the body, but must be understood as the definitively and perfectly integrated state of man brought about by a perfect union of the soul with the body” (see TOB 66:6).

So in other words, we will become superheroes. Saint John Paul II goes on to say, “Spiritualization means the powers of the spirit will permeate the energies of the body. Because of man’s very nature, perfection cannot resist in a reciprocal opposition of the spirit and the body, but only in a deep harmony between them, in safeguarding the primacy of the spirit” (see TOB 67:1,2).

We will be able to walk through walls, fly, go without eating, gain immortality, keep our perfect figure, never get wrinkles, and much more. But why become like superheroes, or as scripture says, like angels, if we are in heaven and nobody needs saving?

Think about salvation history for a second. In the beginning, Adam and Eve were perfectly happy with God and each other. But even Adam and Eve could not walk through walls or go without eating. They had perfect bodies, but they were not spiritualized. After the fall God sent his only Son to redeem the world and how did he do it? Through a body.

St. John Paul II says, “Through the fact that the Word of God became flesh, the body entered theology through the main door” (see TOB 23:4).

And the Catechism points out, “The flesh is the hinge of salvation. We believe in God who is the creator of the flesh; we believe in the word made flesh in order to redeem the flesh, we believe in the resurrection of the flesh, the fulfillment of both the creation and redemption of the flesh.” CCC 1015

So why will we be like superheroes when nobody needs saving? To always remind us of the incredible sacrifice of the cross and the truth of redemption. God loved us so much after we turned away from Him that instead of restoring us to our original perfect state, He restores us to something even beyond that. His love for us is that powerful, and that gives us true reason to rejoice and a real reason for hope. Let’s take a moment to thank God today for the gift of his life, death, and resurrection, crucial parts of our very own salvation history story. From all of us here at Diocesan, God BLess!

September 8, 2018

A Humble Strength

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I have always had a deep devotion to my confirmation saint, St. Joseph. We know very little about St. Joseph, but in today’s readings, we hear some of the only written accounts of this great saint. It has just been announced that Mary shall bear a son.

“When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.”

Many saints and scholars have commented on the fact that this verse does not necessarily mean that Joseph was going to divorce her because he believed she had been with another man. This is an understanding that some read into this text. But many have written about this idea that Joseph knew that Mary had conceived of the Holy Spirit and he did not feel worthy, after all, he was chosen to be the earthly father of Jesus, no small task.

To distance Mary from any shame and because he did not feel worthy, he decided to divorce her quietly. But God had different plans.

“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”

And here we have Joseph’s fiat, his yes to God. Though he must have felt unworthy, he was now betrothed to a sinless virgin who was carrying God in her womb; he trusted that God would provide him with strength.

A few days ago I reflected on humility. I think today’s readings keep that discussion going beautifully. I think we often think of humility as something that is weak, we are made small and so we act small. I know I struggle with that sometimes. But here we have Joseph being given the grace to help our Savior through His earliest days. What amazing strength and courage it must have taken Joseph to say yes, a yes that could only come through the grace of God.

So again we see this utter reliance on God, our unworthiness made perfect in God, and from that came pure strength. If we keep in mind that everything begins and ends with God, then we should not be afraid to boast in the Lord. Humility is not hiding the great things God is doing in our lives, but it’s bringing them to light so people can see that it is not just us and our strength, but it is God making us worthy and giving us grace.

Let us ask for the grace of continued humility and the strength to give our important yes to God. Amen!

September 5, 2018September 4, 2018

Worth and Reliance

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I have always struggled with humility. I think it is because I am such a positive person and for a long time I saw humility as putting ourselves down; we are just measly worms who can do nothing right. I have come to realize through reflection, prayer, and the readings of the saints, that true humility is not about our unworthiness as much as it is about our utter dependence. A mathematician can expound on the smartest equations known to man, and he/she is worthy of doing so, but he/she is dependant on the theories that have come before.

In today’s first reading St. Paul’s words hit hard. “I could not talk to you as spiritual people, but as fleshly people, as infants in Christ. I fed you milk, not solid food, because you were unable to take it.” Immediately my mind goes positive about my worth, “Hey, I am not just a child. I can handle the truth. I went to Franciscan for Theology so, I know my stuff.”

Then reality sets in and I realize that I have complete dependence on my Lord and God. Every movement, every breath, every second of study, is due to God keeping me in existence, holding me in His arms, keeping me in His heart. I am dependent on the God who gave me my worth. As human beings, we are made with the utmost dignity and deserve respect, but we also need to realize that in relation to God and the entire cosmos we are just a speck of paint in the beautiful painting that we know as humanity.

God does not need us, but He sure wants us. He has given us dignity, talents, a heart capable of true charity, and an immortal soul all of which need to be exercised as the gifts they are. Our worth is vast, our dependence total.

This point is hit home by Jesus in today’s Gospel as he performs miracles. We need signs as human beings don’t we? We like proof that God is who He says He is.

We should be able to look at how incredibly we have been created and learn of the goodness of God, but often we don’t. We should be able to admit our reliance on God, but often we want to prove our worth by neglecting the one who created it. Our worth and reliance should be apparent, but we need help to see.

Jesus performs these signs to help us, to love us, but they should also show us that He is in control. This is true humility, seeing our infinite worth, and our complete reliance. Let us pray for the gift of humility and thank God for creating us in His image and likeness. Amen!

September 2, 2018

Beyond The Law

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In today’s beautiful readings we see Jesus rebuking the Pharisees for following the letter of the law solely for the sake of the law instead of understanding the more profound point, relationship.

“Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”

Now at first, this passage looks pretty condemning, but let’s look a little deeper. Jesus is rebuking the hypocritical attitude, but he is doing so because He knows our destiny is so much more significant.

We were not meant to just be human slaves obeying laws and precepts without any real purpose or goal. In the beingning with Adam and Eve, there was no need for such a focus on laws. They understood at a deep level that a human person has innate dignity and is made in the image and likeness of God. They understood and lived this relationship with God and each other perfectly.

And then the fall happened. We started to lose the capacity to look at others with love, mercy, kindness, and charity. We started to act against our very human nature and commit grievances against our own people. It is for this reason that laws were put in place, to protect the common good.

Laws are essential in a fallen world, but Christ in today’s Gospel is calling us to go beyond the law. Instead of doing actions just for that actions sake, digging deep and remembering where we come from and what we are meant for, eternal happines with God in heaven.

We are meant to look at Adam and Eve’s experience and learn from them and start to allow that experience to become ours. Not one enslaved by sin and evil where laws have to guide us, but freedom where we are guided by unconditional love.

This is what Jesus reminds us of today. That He has created us with a purpose that is beyond our understanding and a destiny that is literally out of this world. The only way we are going to get there is by finding the real person behind the commandents and by allowing His love to penetrate into our lives in such a real way that the commandments are no longer a burden but they just make sense because we know that every human person has dignity and worth.

Let us ask for the grace of God because we need it in order to begin to live by the original standards of charity that God gave us from the beginning. Amen.

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