Latest / Catholic Spirit Radio / Good News #190 091325: Remembering 9/11 and Mourning Charlie Kirk

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Good News #190 091325: Remembering 9/11 and Mourning Charlie Kirk · Catholic Spirit Radio

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Welcome to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio, a program for teens and almost
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teens to better understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ is relevant in their
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lives, and it's a place where your questions about faith and religion can be answered.
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And now, here's your host, Deacon Al.
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Good evening, and welcome to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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I am Deacon Al Lundy, and we are here every Saturday and Sunday evening from 8 to 8.30.
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And I have to admit, not having my best day. Been a bit of a downer.
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Most of you probably know that.
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So we taped this program a couple days ahead of time and we're now taping this
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on the 11th of September, 9-11.
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And so a lot of kind of crummy things have gone on today.
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We're remembering the attack on the Twin Towers. We're also,
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this is the anniversary of my father's funeral.
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And it's also, gosh, it's hard to believe.
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Charlie Kirk has been murdered, assassinated. It's just, I was a huge Charlie Kirk fan, huge fan.
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I've been following him for, gosh, probably eight years and was so impressed with the man.
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Just, he was intelligent. He was articulate.
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He was kind in his delivery, in his defense of conservatism,
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his defense of Christianity.
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You know, Charlie, when you watch his YouTube videos, or if you see,
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if you listen to his radio program, he talks mostly about the politics of the
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day, but he also talks about his Christian faith.
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I mean, he put Christ in front of everything. It was Christ,
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family, country, and he was just so—his kindness always struck me because he
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purposely walked into very—.
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Aggressive audiences, you know, purposely,
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because he felt that it was important that they have, they be able to have a
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serious dialogue about the differences between liberalism, conservatism,
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anti-Americanism, secular beliefs, as opposed to Christian beliefs.
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He thought these were important topics and they deserved serious conversation.
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And he didn't go in hollering and he didn't go in using invectives or any kind
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of slurs against people.
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He was very kind to the people.
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But he was honest about the topic. I mean, if people were using facts that weren't
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true, he just said, well, that's not the fact. Here's the fact.
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And he backed it up with the credentials, with the data, and where the data came from.
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So he was very, very well-informed to be able to do that on so many different topics.
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But he never attacked anyone.
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And here he is simply trying to speak his truth in a kind, thoughtful, logical manner.
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And for some people, that wasn't good enough.
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The names he would get called, the volume used against him, the screaming,
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the protests, He didn't even have to show up for one of his appearances.
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And people were already screaming and saying horrible things about him.
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And he hadn't even said anything yet.
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And that always amazed me. And yet he went. And he knew the dangers, I think.
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And he was willing to face those dangers in order to get the truth out. And good for him.
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I wish there were more people like that. I would like to see a hundred Charlie Kirks.
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In the news every day, saying, thank you for your interest in this topic.
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What you're saying isn't true. What you're saying isn't moral.
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So let's look at this. Let's talk about this. And for that, he lost his life.
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Charlie Kirk was not Catholic. His wife is Catholic. His children are Catholic.
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And I think given time, Charlie Kirk would have been Catholic.
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I think he would have, Like many, studied his way into the Catholic faith because
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his answers to many, many questions,
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especially questions that relied on a moral background, on a moral backbone, were Catholic answers.
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And it's just a shame that such a vibrant young man, 31 years old,
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wife and two children, two small children, would be murdered simply because
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he was willing to discuss this.
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I think it says something not only about Charlie Kirk's bravery,
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but it speaks of the cowardice of people who would disagree with him to the
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point of wanting to shoot him.
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And I think we have almost half of our population to blame for that. I'll be honest.
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When you hear people talk about wanting to murder the president, that's outrageous.
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I mean, growing up in this country, I never would have thought that that would happen.
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People screaming about a man who wants to end wars, who has in the last year,
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year and a half, ended five or six wars across the world, and yet they call him a warmonger.
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It just makes absolutely no sense.
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And this level of ignorance that half of our society has risen to,
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I blame them for acts like this.
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I blame them for the illegal immigrant who stabbed the woman on the bus.
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I blame them for the shooter at the church in Minnesota.
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We have just gotten, on one side of the coin, we have just gotten so angry and
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so aggressive and so unable to communicate our feelings without insulting people,
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without haranguing, without physical violence.
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And I'll tell you what really surprises me, and I saw this, I forget where I
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saw it, it was probably somewhere on the internet, because everything on the
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internet is true, but some of the stuff on the internet can be quite eye-opening.
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One was a simple one-frame, I guess they call it a meme, I'm not really good,
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I'm not up to these terms. But anyway, it says, to blame violence on guns is
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like blaming obesity on silverware, right?
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I mean, it's not the gun that's violent. It's the person behind the gun that's violent.
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It's their attitude. It's their immature, and I'm sorry, ignorant way of dealing
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with life that is causing these problems. And it's funny how everything seems to be connected.
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Ignorance comes from a lack of knowledge, lack of education.
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We're going through a thing right now in Illinois. We're second or third in
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the cost of educating our children in the nation per student,
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second or third highest.
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And where do we rank in achievement?
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49th? Next to the worst education system in the country and yet one of the most expensive?
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And what are people screaming for right now? More money for education?
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No, more education for the money, please.
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And we're not seeing that. And I think that's where a lot of this is going to.
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We have, we're churning out a lot of people every year who are unable to think.
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We've lost the ability to reason. We've lost the ability to communicate.
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And Charlie Kirk was brilliant at these things. Absolutely brilliant.
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And did it in a kind Christian way that, I guess that's why this event has struck me so hard.
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I never met the man. I've only listened to his talks, and I feel like I've lost a friend. I really do.
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So pray for the repose of the soul of Charlie Kirk.
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Pray for the person who shot him. They may never come to justice in this world,
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but they will come to justice in the next.
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And I don't want to say I feel sorry for them, but I do it away.
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My heart aches for the type of torment and punishment that they have chosen
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to face by choosing to take the life of another human being,
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regardless of what their differences were politically or morally.
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We're a people of Christ, and we seek forgiveness not only for ourselves, but for our enemies.
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And I hope this man or woman, whoever it was, is able to find peace with Christ.
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All right, that's my soapbox. Oh, let me go just a couple more minutes on this.
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Good news, bad news this week. So the good news is, first of all,
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we have a new radio station.
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We have a new tower up. We reach not only a new town, but we meet,
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I'm sorry, we reach a new diocese. Is that right, John?
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So right now, can you hop on with me for a moment?
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We'll get John Hall in here, the man behind Catholic Spirit Radio and behind our soundboard today.
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John, how many dioceses are we in now? Oh, gosh.
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I'd have to say one, two, three, four, five?
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Five? Five. In 10 years, we've gone from one diocese to five. Yep.
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We've gone from one frequency to— This will be 12.
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12 frequencies, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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That's phenomenal. And we get how much government funding, John? Zero. Zero.
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How much church funding? Zero. Everything comes from donations, from your donations.
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So we're now in Charleston. So if you have friends down in Charleston,
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Illinois, or someone in your family is a student out at Eastern Illinois University,
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let them know that they can now listen to wonderful,
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powerful Catholic Spirit Radio every day, 24 hours a day, great programming.
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And also mention to them, they've probably never, not only never listened to
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Catholic Spirit Radio, they've probably never supported Catholic Spirit Radio.
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And they have a great opportunity to do that. It was by God's providence that
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we were able to open this station.
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It didn't just fall in John's lap. It kept tapping on his shoulder until he
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paid attention over and over again until finally he couldn't ignore it.
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And we had to open it. So we're now in Charleston.
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You'll hear more about it very soon. We have our Fall Carathon coming up soon.
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Our Fall Appeal. where we'll be looking for funds to keep the station going.
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And we had to really dig into the bottom of the bank account to get this station
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open, but it was just too good of a deal. We couldn't pass it up.
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So please support us in our mission and make it sacrificial.
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We really did scrape the bottom of the bank account to be able to do this.
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And if we're going to stay on the air at all these locations and continue with
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Christ's mission of evangelization, we need your help. you can go to our website
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at catholicspiritradio.org and click on the donate button.
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And we really appreciate it. So John, congratulations on the new baby.
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You've given birth to another new station, so thank you very much.
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The Lord has brought it forth.
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And another bit of good news, this weekend I was invited to participate in a wedding,
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in a sacrament of matrimony at not my parish, but at a nearby parish for one of my parishioners.
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So, Will and Rebecca, congratulations. I hope you have a wonderful new life
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together rooted in a love of Christ and the sacrament of matrimony.
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I invite all young people who are falling in love right now and looking to make
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this lifelong commitment that just doing it in the courthouse isn't good enough.
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A contract is not good enough. A contract is a piece of paper that either person
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can tear up. It's just something through the government.
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You need the sacrament. You need that covenant with Christ.
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So, please look into the sacraments, especially the sacrament of matrimony.
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So, we're going to pause for just a couple moments, and then we'll be back with
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more good news on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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Stay tuned. Good news will be right back on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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Landon, can I listen to Catholic Spirit Radio on Alexa? You bet, Grandpa.
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It's easy to set up and use. First, tell Alexa to enable the Catholic Spirit Radio skill.
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Alexa, enable the Catholic Spirit Radio skill.
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Alexa, play Catholic Spirit Radio. That's it? Yep.
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You're right. That is easy. Thanks. Love you, Grandpa.
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Catholic Spirit Radio has new listeners. Welcome to our new friends in the Whitewater,
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The noble gift of our sexuality is not something to be demeaned.
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Regrettably, pornography, fornication, and adultery are rampant today.
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If we want to be influential as Catholic and moral leaders in the domestic church
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of our home, we must be chaste.
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We can't allow ourselves to be degraded, to lose our crucial power of spiritual
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leadership due to this sin.
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Our family needs us to be their moral heroes.
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We cannot submit to the temptation of unchastity.
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And if we should fall, we need to immediately repent, go to confession,
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and get back in the fight to be champions of chastity. We can't give an inch
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to these dark temptations.
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Pornography is always wrong and disordered.
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It unfailingly leaves its wound, doing grave harm to the user,
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his or her family, as well as the so-called performers who make pornography,
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who are dehumanized and used as objects of another's pleasure.
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With pornography, one takes pleasure
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at the expense of the degradation of others as well as one's self.
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Listen, quote, Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins,
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but delights in the truth.
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1 Corinthians 13, 6 You see, we are temples of the Holy Spirit,
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as are those involved in making pornography.
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Quote, Your body, you know, is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
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1 Corinthians 6, 19 We must win this fight at all costs. The stakes are too high.
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You and I are too good for unchastity. Mercifully, our Lord Jesus is there to
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do most of the fighting for us if we only turn to Him.
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Jesus is your champion.
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I'm Jim Littleton, forming FaithfulFamilies.com.
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Music.
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Back to Good News. I'm Deacon Al Lundy of the Peoria Diocese,
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speaking to you over the network of Catholic Spirit Radio, and happy to have you with us.
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This Sunday is the exaltation of the Holy Cross.
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And it's funny, I gave a tour a couple weeks ago to a group of youth from a
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Christian church here in town, a non-Catholic Christian church,
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and really enjoyed doing that. They were wonderful kids. They had great questions.
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And it was mostly an architectural tour for them to understand the elements
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that are found within a Catholic church that you might not see in a Protestant church.
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And we were talking about that. And of course, one of the questions came up
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was the crucifix. They don't have a crucifix in their church. They have a cross.
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Well, I showed where we also use the cross and the crucifix.
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I was wearing a deacon's cross at the time, which doesn't have the corpus of
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Christ on it. So I said, we use crosses and crucifixes.
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And they asked why, because they see the crucifix as a device of torture, of pain, and of death.
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And we as Catholics don't see it that way. And that's why we have this special
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emphasis this Sunday on the exaltation of the Holy Cross.
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The cross, for us, is a vehicle of salvation.
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We don't look at it as a device of torture. And it reminded me when I was a
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child, my mother would come upstairs at bedtime and say prayers with us before
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we went to bed, with my brothers and I.
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And one night, one of my brothers asked her, why do we have a crucifix in our
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house when his friends have crosses?
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And my mother's answer to this day, I think, was absolutely brilliant.
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She held her arms out, like the arms of Christ on the cross,
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and said, because Jesus loves you this much.
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And that's the message for us of the cross. It's a sign of incredible love and sacrifice.
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And it reminds us not only of what Christ did for us, but what we're expected to do for others.
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So our readings this Sunday come from the book of Numbers.
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And then it's from a letter from Paul to the Philippians and then the Gospel
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according to John and they're all fairly short readings.
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So I think we're going to be able to get this in in our time limit.
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The reading for the book of Numbers, with their patience worn out by the journey,
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the people complained against God and Moses.
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Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
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where there is no food or water? We're disgusted with this wretched food.
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In punishment, the Lord sent among the people seraph serpents,
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which bit the people so that many of them died.
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Then the people came to Moses and said, We've sinned in complaining against the Lord and you.
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Pray the Lord to take the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people.
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The Lord said to Moses, Make a seraph and mount it on a pole.
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And if any of you who have been bitten look at it, they will live.
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Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole.
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And whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent,
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he lived. The Word of the Lord.
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And if you want to see the effect that Scripture has on life,
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look at the symbol for the medical sciences.
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What is it? It's the seraph. It's the serpent on the post. That you look at
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it and you look to the medicine to be healed.
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Our second reading comes from the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians.
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Brothers and sisters, Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
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did not regard equality with God something to be grasped at.
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Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness
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and found human in appearance.
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He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
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Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
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that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend of those in heaven and on
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earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
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to the glory of God the Father.
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So, if everybody says, well, if Jesus was God, why did he never say he was God?
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Well, this explains part of it, and that.
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His purpose wasn't to come here and be God. His purpose was to come here and lead us to God.
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So he came in humility, not as God, but as one of us, so that he could show
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us how as humans, like him, we could also be closer to God, like him.
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In our gospel reading, according to John, Jesus said to Nicodemus,
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No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
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Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be
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lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.
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For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes
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in Him might not perish, but might have eternal life.
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For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,
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but that the world might be saved through Him. The Gospel of the Lord.
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So Jesus came here not to judge us, but to save us.
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God loves us. He loves us so much, he not only sent his son,
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but he sent his son to die in our place so that we wouldn't need to die.
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We could have life through him.
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I'm amazed at the number of people who ask, why would Jesus even do this?
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Because he loves us. What would you do for the people you love?
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What would you do for your children, for your spouse?
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It's you do you do what you have to do god
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did what he had to do and what did we
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do in return we rejected him and
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where has that gotten us well look in
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the news today and you'll see what that's gotten us to charlie kirk may you
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rest in peace thank you for listening we hope to talk to you again next weekend
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on catholic spirit radio i am deacon al lundy may almighty god bless you protect
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you from all evil, and bring you to everlasting life.