Latest / Catholic Spirit Radio / Good News #195 101825: Persevere: Prayer, Work, and God's Grace

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Good News #195 101825: Persevere: Prayer, Work, and God's Grace · 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. I am Deacon Al Lundy,
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  a permanent deacon of the Peoria Diocese, here with you on Catholic Spirit Radio
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  Saturday and Sunday evenings from 8 to 8.30.
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  And gosh, I was just thinking, we've been doing this for almost three years?
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  Four years? Really? Wow, it doesn't seem like that. But I think it's four.
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  Four years. Wow, that's great. I enjoy that.
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  So I must be coming up to my 3,000 shows or something. No, but I've got at least 100 of these.
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  Oh, it's got to be more than 100. And you can listen to every one of them back
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  to back by going to catholicspiritradio.org, go to our podcast section,
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  and you can find our previous programs.
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  My mother-in-law has started to listen.
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  So hello, Margaret. Hope you're having a great day. And thank you for tuning again to Good News.
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  So in a little bit, we'll be looking at the readings for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
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  In the meantime, I talked to you about preparation. Last week,
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  I talked about preparing my garden now for how it's going to look in the spring.
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  Well, my wife and I are also preparing for our vacation, which isn't going to
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  happen for several months.
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  But we take a year to plan our vacations. As soon as we get back from,
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  we only take really one vacation a year.
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  We get back from that vacation, and within a week, we have started planning the next one, right?
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  So we're about, right now, we're about, gosh, 10 months out.
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  Nine, 10 months out from our vacation. We already have our airline tickets.
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  We have our hotel reservations.
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  We've got a couple of tours planned out. We plan way ahead of time because we
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  want to know where we're going, right?
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  And we want to know that we're going to get there.
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  Well, you should be doing that
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  with your faith life. You should be making plans. Where do you want to go?
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  And what are you doing to get there?
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  And there are some people who look at that as being work.
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  It's too much work. I'm going on vacation to relax. I don't want to do all this
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  work. Well, it's the work that makes the vacation possible.
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  People say, well, salvation is a gift.
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  Well, that's true. It is a gift. It's a gift from God.
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  Salvation comes only through the grace of God, but grace requires cooperation.
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  It's not just grace is laid at your plate and you're done. It's like when someone
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  gives you a gift, and if you want to use the gift analogy for grace,
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  and I think that works really well, someone gives you a gift, if you don't open it,
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  if you don't make use of it, what good is that gift?
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  So, God's gift of grace isn't meant to just be laid in front of you.
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  It's meant for you to open and work with,
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  Work with it. There's nothing wrong with the word work. It just means it's a cooperative effort.
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  You put in an effort to blend with God's gift.
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  So what's some of the effort that goes with grace? Well, one thing is obedience.
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  If God gives you the grace to do something, you have to do it in the way God has instructed us to.
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  That includes forgiveness, and charity, and love.
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  If you just say, well, God has saved me, so I'm saved, I don't have to do anything.
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  That's not what Scripture says. It says you have to persevere in obedience to
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  God's commands. That's work.
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  That's not just, oh, well, I'm saved. I've said it once, I'm done.
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  Nothing in Scripture supports that. And nothing in Scripture supports that all
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  you have to do is know Scripture.
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  I mean, if you actually know Scripture, then you know Jesus says you have to
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  eat of His body and blood.
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  That's what it says. John 6 says, you must eat of my body and blood.
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  Jesus also says, you must be baptized. Well, that just doesn't happen.
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  You have to make that happen.
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  That takes effort. That's work.
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  It says you have to love your neighbor. Well, what does that mean?
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  Well, he gives the example of the Samaritan, of the good Samaritan.
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  That was an effort made to care for the man who was beaten up on the roadside.
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  So, Scripture is filled with examples of you have to endure,
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  you have to persevere, you have to respond to God's grace.
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  You can't just say, oh, well, God's graced me, I'm done.
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  So, our readings this weekend talk about that. It talks about the need for perseverance
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  in kind of the first story, kind of a strange way,
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  but still it shows that it took effort on Moses' part for God's grace to be
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  enacted for the tribes of Israel.
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  So, this fundamentalism that some Christians get caught up in, where work is a bad word.
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  In fact, they say, only through faith in Christ are we saved.
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  Nowhere in Scripture does it say that. It says, through the grace of God,
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  we are saved. And that's true.
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  If we didn't have God's grace, nothing, nothing could get us to heaven.
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  But with God's grace, we have to cooperate with it in order to complete that story of salvation.
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  So we're preparing for this trip because, as I said, we want to know where we're
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  going to end up and when we're going to end up there.
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  And so that requires some planning, some work.
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  And it's becoming, it's quite detailed. For just a two-week vacation,
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  there's a lot to consider.
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  Well, in our life, in our faith life, there's a lot to consider.
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  What are we doing to be truly charitable? What have we done to forgive someone,
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  not in our lifetime, but today?
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  What did we do today to show our forgiveness?
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  What did we do today to show our
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  reverence to God? What did we do today to conform to God's commandments?
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  So we're looking ahead and saying day to day, what are we doing to get to where we want to go?
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  Are we ready? Are we prepared? And I think that's a great question to ask yourself each day.
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  I think at the end of the day, sit together with your spouse or with a good friend and say,
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  you know, looking back on my day, reflecting on the last 24 hours,
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  here's what I did to conform myself to Christ.
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  And was it, was it.
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  Was it sufficient for my growth? Was it sufficient for my relationship with Christ?
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  It's a good question. And I think it's one that not enough people take the time to ask.
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  So I'm just putting it in your mind and hopefully in your heart to sit down
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  and ask yourself that this week.
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  We're going to take a break for just a couple moments. When we come back,
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  we're going to look at the readings from the Mass for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary
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  Time here on Good News. on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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  For questions, check the Christalisa section of the website bncursio.org or
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  email cursio bnil at gmail.com.
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  I'm Deacon Al. If you have questions about the Catholic faith or Christianity
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  So please show your charity by helping to support Catholic Spirit Radio.
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  So for our readings, this program, we're going to be looking at the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
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  Our first reading is from the book of Exodus.
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  Our second reading is continuing our letter from Paul to Timothy,
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  and then the gospel from the gospel of Luke.
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  And as I say, what you'll see here is a theme about persistence.
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  In our first reading from Exodus, it says, In those days Amalek came and waged war against Israel.
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  Moses, therefore, said to Joshua, Pick out certain men, and tomorrow go out
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  and engage Amalek in battle.
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  I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.
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  So Joshua did as Moses told him. He engaged Amalek in battle.
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  After Moses had climbed to the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur,
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  However, as long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight.
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  But when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight.
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  Moses' hands, however, grew tired, so they put a rock in place for him to sit on.
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  And meanwhile, Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side,
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  one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset.
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  And Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Word of the Lord.
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  Persistence, perseverance. It required Moses to be present during the battle.
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  It required him to work. It required effort for Moses.
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  He had to keep his hands raised toward God, raising the prayers of the Israelite people to God.
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  And as long as he stayed in that mode of worship, the Israeli people were winning in the battle.
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  But when he grew tired and lowered his hands, the enemy began to win.
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  And so, with assistance, with support, Moses was able to continue his worship
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  and the Israeli people won the war. Perseverance.
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  Sometimes we need to persevere through a problem. Sometimes it's just so overwhelming
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  we can't do it ourselves, and we need help to continue in our effort.
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  With Moses, that help came from Aaron and from her.
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  With our help, with us, with our problems, we might find that help with family
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  members, with friends, but also through Christ, through prayers.
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  It's our prayers who can help us to persevere.
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  It's God's active participation in our life that helps us to persevere through our problems.
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  In a letter from Paul, second letter of Paul to Timothy, Paul writes,
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  Beloved, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed.
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  In other words, persevere.
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  Because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known
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  the sacred scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation
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  through faith in Christ Jesus.
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  All scripture is inspired by God, and it's useful for teaching,
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  for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
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  so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
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  I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead.
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  And by His appearing and His kingly power, proclaim the word,
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  be persistent, whether it is convenient or inconvenient.
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  Convince, reprimand, encourage through all practice and teaching,
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  all patience and teaching. The word of the Lord.
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  So again, a theme of perseverance, of being faithful to what you know about
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  your faith, what you've learned.
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  Persevere in sharing that with others. Persevere in your knowledge and faith in the Scriptures.
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  And I think something we have to remember at this point, when Paul talks about
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  all Scripture, he's talking about the Old Testament.
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  The New Testament doesn't even exist yet. He has no idea that this letter to
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  Timothy is going to end up as a piece of Scripture.
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  He's talking about the Old Testament. The Old Testament is so important.
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  Yes, we are a New Testament people.
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  Our faith is rooted in Christ, but the promise of Christ is rooted in the Old Testament.
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  And so, you need to know that as well as the New.
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  You need to know where this promise came from and why, and the importance of
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  the struggles of the Jewish people and how that relates to all of us today,
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  not just to the Jewish people, but to all of us.
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  We all have that same struggle with faith that they had.
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  And so Paul reminds Timothy to stay true to these scriptures,
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  to learn from them, to share them, and to bring others to Christ through perseverance,
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  whether it's convenient or not,
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  whether it's through encouragement or through reprimand, have it all based on your faith in Christ.
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  And that's still a good lesson for us today.
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  In our gospel reading from Luke, Jesus told his disciples a parable.
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  And let me back up a minute. In Luke right now, what we're going through in
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  the 18th chapter is a lot of parables.
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  It's almost like Luke is saying, oh, did you hear this one?
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  He goes through this whole string of parables because he wasn't present during Christ's ministry.
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  So he's gone back and he's talked to witnesses.
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  He says, when you heard Christ speak, what did he talk about?
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  And so, he's built this gospel around the personal report that he's gathered
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  from people who were present during Christ's ministry.
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  And so, in this chapter, he's relating this whole series of parables.
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  So, they didn't necessarily all happen on the same day at the same time,
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  but they carry this theme of Jesus taught this—.
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  Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always
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  without becoming weary.
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  He said, there was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being.
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  And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, render a just decision
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  for me against my adversary.
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  For a long time, the judge was unwilling.
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  But eventually he thought, while it's true that I neither fear God nor respect
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  any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me, I shall deliver a just
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  decision for her, lest she finally come and strike me.
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  Lord said, pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.
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  Will not God then secure the rights of His chosen ones who call out to Him day and night?
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  Will He be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.
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  But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? The Gospel of the Lord.
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  Persevere. Persistence. Not only in your faith, but in your conversations with God.
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  Whatever you need, not whatever you want.
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  Big difference between needs and wants. Whatever you need, God wants to bring
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  to you. He wants you to have.
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  But He also wants you to understand the source of that gift.
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  And He wants you to ask. He wants a relationship with you. Yes,
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  he knows what you need. He knows what you're thinking.
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  He knows even before you ask. But he wants you to ask because he wants that relationship.
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  A parent knows what the child needs, but he still wants the child to talk to him, right?
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  To share in conversation, in relationship with the parent.
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  It's not about already knowing.
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  It's about building this relationship.
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  Talk to God. Talk to God about what you need.
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  Talk to Him about your problems. Talk to Him about the gifts and the graces He's given you.
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  But persevere in that faith. Persevere in prayer, no matter what it is, good or bad.
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  Persevere in your talk with God. And like the just judge, He will give you what you need.
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  It's a great lesson. It's very simply told, but it's a great lesson,
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  and it's one that so often we forget about.
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  We almost put God aside in a corner and bring Him out on Sundays,
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  where we should be walking with Him every day.
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  He walks with us every day, we just don't always see Him. We don't always pay attention.
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  We kind of ignore him except for one day a week, one hour a week for some people.
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  And what Jesus is calling us to is a perseverance, is a constant communication with God.
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  Knock and the door will open, right? Seek and you will find.
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  Scripture is filled with examples of persevering. We see it in the first reading today with Moses.
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  We hear about it from Paul to Timothy, and now we hear about it from Jesus.
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  Perseverance. Let that be the word of the day for us each day this week.
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  How are you persevering in your faith with Jesus Christ?
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  This is Deacon Al Lundy for Catholic Spirit Radio. May Almighty God bless you,
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  protect you from all evil, and bring you to everlasting life.
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  Amen. You've been listening to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio,
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  a program for teens and almost teens to better understand that the gospel of
• 22:59
  Jesus Christ is relevant in your life.
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  Submit your questions to Deacon Al at goodnews at catholicspiritradio.com.
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  That's goodnews at catholicspiritradio.com.
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  Deacon will answer your questions about faith and religion.
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  Thank you for listening to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio.