← Petersboat
Petersboat
My Last Girlfriend and Mark Twain's First | The Monday After
00:24:54
What if God were to begin imparting to us some of His divine life now, in this life, little by little, all along the way, until He finally takes us to Himself. Then - even if we were to have a bad day, or someone were to betray us, or we were to get sick - then, we would be able to call life good because of where it’s ultimately going.
Loading summary
Transcript1 lines
- [00:04]
A
Okay. Because Saturday May 30th was the feast of St. Joan of Arc. She died in 1431. She was martyred. I was thinking about this movie, the contemporary film about Saint Joan of Arc that I watched with my last girlfriend. She was up at Skidmore at the time in college. And I surprised her one weekend. And so we rented this movie. And, you know, we're getting close to each other on the couch as we're watching this. And in the film, Saint Joan of Arc has a vision of Jesus. You know, she did in real life. St. Michael the Archangel, our Lord himself. And in the movie, as Jesus is appearing on the screen, I was so enthralled by it, you know, really captivated by that. I said to my girlfriend, hold on a sec, hold on. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Just look at this. Just look at this, you know? And I remember the moment in my life because when I saw him like that, I began to believe that I could know how to relate to my girlfriend into life if I would keep my eyes on the Lord. A little oversimplified, but I'm saying it was an experience of realizing I wasn't looking at him enough, which is why it was hard for me to know how to live my life. You know what I mean? And so she went off to class. The next day, she went off to class, and I went to the town in Saratoga there and to buy a book on perfectionism. I thought maybe. Maybe that's my problem. The reason I can't tell any of these girls that I want to marry them is because I'm just a perfectionist. But of course, when I read the book, or looked, at least in the first couple chapters, I thought, this is more of a. A real problem, a psychosis. I don't think that's my problem. I think. I think rather it's just a matter of me not knowing how to make decisions that would lead me to my heart's desire, which is for God. So after that weekend of feeling confused but also excited about the possibility of a new clarity if I were to just look more at God, that's when I came home to my home parish and started to, you know, give myself more to prayer and to service at the parish and to intent, intentionally looking at God. And so it's an example to me of, like, how when we. We know where we're going, remember where this thing is going, that helps us to know how to live along the way. So over the next few months, I would. I would feel called to the priesthood. And this Girlfriend. She's the one last girlfriend. I said to her I was feeling called to enter the seminary to start studying for the priesthood. And she said, I know. You know, we all see that. We see you falling in love with the Church. So, anyway, just in a little story to say, because May 30th was the feast of St. Joan of Arc just got me thinking about this. But it is an example of what we've been talking about this week, which is if I can only know how to live my life if I know, like, where it's going. And we ask the question of each other a lot, like, how's it going? And, you know, we jokingly say, well, you know, if you really want to know, and pull up a chair, I'll tell you. Because, you know, life is tough in almost every way and almost all the time. But we rarely ask, like, so where's it going? Where's your life going? I think we're also afraid to answer that sometimes because, you know, we don't want to presume going to God, it's where it's going to be a saint, but unless we strive for that, we won't know really how to live our lives in the meantime. So I suppose that that's why when someone asks, you know, how's it going? We very quickly respond, you know, fine. I'm good, thanks. I'm good. It's just easier to just kind of, like, lie than it is to say, you know, honestly, it's tough. It's difficult. I don't know what to make sometimes of my life. So I say it that way because there's something about the Feast of the Holy Trinity, which we celebrate this past weekend, you know, about how Christ reveals to us that he has been sent from the Father to bring us to the Father, and that that is supposed to be saving for us, like, some sort of salvation for us, like, comes to us, shocks us, you know, we're enthralled by his being, his person. When I was watching that movie, you see him and you go, whoa. He has your attention. And then what he reveals to us is that he is taking us to the Father, bringing us to the Father. Follow me to the Father. And then that becomes, like, a criterion with which we make judgments in life. It's a Christian criterion. Everything then becomes a possibility. Even the tough things that happen to me in life can be an opportunity to become more the man that God made me to be. And that's where there's freedom in this, freedom that comes from believing that everything can Be an opportunity for me to grow in some way. There's a guy I watch on YouTube sometimes. The golfer who actually lives in Thailand is very funny. So he gets your attention with his humor. But he teaches a way of looking at the game of golf that I find helpful, like, with life. He's basically saying, play your game. This unrealistic criterion that we place on ourselves to be a scratch golfer, a professional golfer, is making us miserable sometimes. Just play your game. He says, yeah, it's a par four for the pros. For you, it's a par five. Yeah, they're expected to get to the green in two. You get to the green in three. And then he's this guy who says, and I shared this this weekend. Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. You know, I love that sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. Meaning, like, if you play the game, like, realist in reality, you know, you play your game, then you can enjoy it. Everything for you would be part of the experience which you will ultimately call good. Remember a couple weeks ago we Talked about, like, 18 holes of life and everything? I know it's a little annoying to hear the priest talk about golf. I know you're looking for the Lord. I'm just saying I think the analogy, you know, that the parable of sports sometimes does help to appreciate what Christ is trying to offer us. The following Christ means for you and for me to play our game, meaning to become the saint he's calling us to be. So, for example, when I keep my eyes on him, when I look to the place where I'm going, the common destiny for each of us, when I look to the Father and then I ask, how would you have me live my life to arrive? He holds the priesthood out to me, says, play your game. And to me, it's the priesthood. But for you, it might be, you met this person, you look to God in your heart, and then you look at this person and you say, I know how now to relate to this person. I'm called to marry this person. Or I'm called not to marry this person. But you make judgments all along the way based on the best way for you to get to God. And we do this together in the communion of the church. And that's where the church can be a place where we can be unique individuals but also share a common life. What we share in common is having come from God and being on our way together toward God. But the uniqueness is the sanctity is every saint in the pews is a unique saint in that sense. Right. No one is quite like you. And I have my own way given to me by God of living the holiness he calls me to live. But that common destination, I think, is what enables us to know how to relate to each other along the way. Another story I told this weekend was when I was on my way with my mother to a mass at the Shrine of Our lady of the island at 12 o' clock mass. This is one of the summer months years ago, and as we're driving, a woman cut us off, but I slowed down and gave her space. I didn't tailgate, although I was tempted to. And a little bit down the road, my mother commented, saying, you're handling that very well. She said. And I said, oh, the car, yeah. I said, well, she might be going to the shrine too. She might be going to the same place. So sure enough, about a mile and a half down the road, we get to the entrance of the shrine. The car pulls in, and I pull in after her. She pulls in front of the shrines, going to mass, and so am I. You know, it's. If I tailgated her, you know, repaid her evil for evil in a sense, even though she probably just made a mistake, you know, she could have gone into the church, but, you know, could I? Well, not until I'm reconciled to her and to the Lord, you know, but because we're all going or trying to make our way to God together, that's the criterion for judging how to live with one another. Morality is this consequence of having met Christ who reorients our lives to God. And now I know how to live. Where is it going? To God. How's it going? It's tough. It's not easy. It's full of conflict and the need for reconciliation. But it's good because God is good. My origin and my destiny is good. Both are God. And so it is good. The journey is good. You see that this is the peace that Christ comes to give us. Not that Christ promises an escape from hardship and trial, but that all the hardships and trials can contribute to our becoming the saint that God calls us to be if we keep our eyes fixed on the destiny. And again, the paradox is that looking at our destiny and holding heaven before our eyes is what enables us really to see each other clearly too. Like, I can't see you unless I can see that I'm being called to see God face to face. Like, if I look to Jesus, then I know how to look to you. You know, I don't know even how to see you if I don't know how to see where I'm going. This is why Pope Leo, he wrote about artificial intelligence, right? As you know, the encyclical is really about asking the question, well, why was the human person created? And what is our destiny? Where are we going? Like, once we remember where we're going, then we can have some criteria in with which to make decisions about how to use technology along the way, right? So that's what the Church is about. That's what these popes are about. The bishops, they're not trying to tell us how to live, but they're inviting us to ask the question, where are we going? And then they provide as servants of the Church, a relationship with Christ through the grace of the sacraments and the communal life. They provide for us a way to answer that, where are we going? But unless we ask the question right, Jesus himself is irrelevant to the person who's not asking, where is this going? You know those bumper stickers sometimes that say, Jesus is the answer, and he is, but only for those or to those who are asking the question, where is this going? But the Pope, when he writes about artificial intelligence, he's not just trying to tell us how to use it. He trusts that if each of us asks the question, where are we going? And we think of God, we will see the magnificence of our own humanity and then know how to use this extraordinary invention of digital technology. So all this connects to the Feast of the Holy Trinity was celebrated this weekend because God revealed himself to us to be a communion of persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So that means we as human beings are ultimately a communion of persons. Our identity is communal. We are communal by nature. But this challenges the way we think a lot about our being very autonomous. You know, here I have a quote here, something that Pope Leo wrote or actually spoke when presenting the document on artificial intelligence. I hear from troubling voices he said about increasingly autonomous weapons systems, practically beyond any human reach to govern them effectively. See, increasingly autonomous, because sometimes people want to wield, as you know, you don't mean me to tell you this, but they want to wield technology for their own personal gain. But that's not in accord with human nature. When we are truly communal by nature, made in the image of God, who is a Father, Son and Holy Spirit, loving one another constantly, then we're not made merely for personal gain, but for love and to care for one another, and then to allow ourselves to be loved and to be cared for. We said it this week thinking about my Life in God enables me to see the other person not as just in my way, but someone who is with me along the way. You know, like the marriages. You know, we talk about marriage a lot, right? It's like if the couple keep their eyes on God, then they can see each other as good company along the way. If they take their eyes off of God, they only look at one another, and then they kind of, like, resent one another for not fulfilling their desire for God. And then they blame the other for their own unhappiness, and they end up, like, imploding in that way. But if they keep their eyes on God, they can see each other not as in the way of their personal happiness, but company along the way to their fulfillment and personal happiness, which is holiness, you know. So, again, just knowing where we're going helps us to know how to live along the way. And they mentioned that this guy's doing a lot of work around the property these days. Contractors and construction workers. But how do they know what to do? You know, someone shows them the plan, the architect says, here's where we're going, guys. So now they know how to do the work. Here's another quote from Pope Leo that when he was talking about introducing this encyclical, he says, peace is not merely the absence of war, but is justice at work. It's like the work we have to do to get to God, which is a lot of reconciling, a lot of forgiving, but that's what peace is. So peace isn't finally. There's nothing to forgive. You know, peace isn't finally. I don't need to be forgiven by anyone or by God. No, peace is. I'm willing every day to forgive others and to allow myself to be forgiven. You know, peace is justice at work. He reminded us that St. Paul said, Let each builder choose with care how to build. How should I deal with my spouse? How should I deal with my children? How should I deal with my own health or make a decision about my body? Well, remember where you're called to be, where you're going. And that should be a lens through which you look at your life and your circumstances in order to know how to live well. He says artificial intelligence can be a construction site of history from within a horizon of communion in which the goal of progress learns to serve human life. So, you know, what is progress? Those who are called progressive a lot of times tend to support things that ultimately lead to the degradation of the human person. Most people who consider themselves progressive tend to abandon Ideals that would lead to personal holiness. So that can't be true progress, right? Because if we're called to God, that's our common destiny, then how can it be progressive to make decisions that don't ultimately serve that destiny, that are reduced to personal gain or pleasure in the passing moment or convenience? But artificial intelligence can be a construction site of history from within a horizon of communion. You know, something on the way to a communion with God and one another, in which the goal of progress truly learns to serve human life. So this Feast of the Holy Trinity is very much a celebration of the revelation of God which reveals to us who we are as human beings. Does that make sense? God is a communion of persons. Therefore, so are we. Meaning we're not entirely autonomous, although we are unique and irrepeatable individuals, you know, but there's a bond of communion that God desires to create between us, which goes beyond or transcends mere natural communion. Like being a Knicks fan with someone. I've got a big game tomorrow night. It's exciting. It's one thing to share the love of a sports team with someone. It's another thing to share the bond of holy communion with someone where you've been reconciled to each other. You forgive one another for being different, speaking a different language, or having a different outlook on life, or being of a different ethnicity or nationality. I mean, this bond, the bond that we share in the Church, that's a wonderful bond. That's a Holy communion. That's the love of God. That's that bond. Not just the love of the Knicks, you know, I mean, no offense against Knicks. I mean, that's. I mean, it's awesome to think about the Knicks doing well. It's exciting. But we'll let Timothy Chalamet be excited for all of us. You know, guy stands up on every play. But, you know, for us, truly, you know, peace and happiness, you know, the joy comes from believing. I think that everything that happens to me today and everything that will happen to me tomorrow, part of God's plan for me to become the person he's creating me to be. Now, I don't have to censor everything or prohibit things or walk around all afraid like a Puritan. I can say, father, if it be possible to let difficult chalices pass from me, but nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. And I trust that whatever you allow to happen to me, if I face it with love and make a decision about how best to respond based on the holiness you're calling me to, I believe that I Can learn from everything and grow in everything. And sometimes I'll win and sometimes I'll learn. I wanted to end with a reference to Mark Twain because he was known to have gone through a period of life that got dark. He became cynical, very pessimistic about things. His publishing company was failing and he was going broke. And then someone spoke to him about St. Joan of Arc. And he took such an interest in St. Joan of Arc that he went to France and took years studying the trial when she was being put to death. The transcript. And he really fell in love with her. And he said that his favorite book, the book he's written is the book he wrote, his reflections on St. Joan of Arc. He said, the other books I've written, they took no preparation. I just wrote them. But this one, he said, I took years to prepare. He said, I find I'm paraphrasing him. But like whatever is good in humanity was in St. Joan of Arc. He said something about her being the best we've ever produced. But of course, she was produced by God's grace. But the thing is, she did cooperate with God. And she was unafraid of conflict, knowing that peace was not merely the absence of war or conflict, but staying true to God, loving God to the end and loving neighbor, harboring no ill will toward the English, even as she fought against them on behalf of the French, praying for those who were putting her to death, just as Christ prayed for those who were putting him to death on the cross. In any case, it attracted even Mark Twain, who was despairing of life and humanity at the time when he discovered her. But it was her humanity that awakened his. You see, Mark Twain was known. Samuel Clemens was known to think very little of, like, the Catholic Church or her sacraments. He's a real Southerner at heart. They're very suspicious all the time of Roman Catholics, papists. But he fell in love with St. Joan of Arc. And she's one of our finest. She's one of our greatest. So I can understand his disappointment in what he perceived to be a merely sort of institutional application of a spirituality to life that's never really satisfying to anyone. But when he discovered that holiness is the human person fully alive, he was attracted to it. And that's, I think, exciting for these times in which we live, when people are looking for a renewal of enthusiasm for life. All it takes is a saint, and all it takes to be a saint is to live the truth of our humanity. The truth of our humanity is found in God who has revealed Himself to us to be be a communion of persons. Father giving himself to the Son as the Son receives the Son, giving himself to the Father and the Holy Spirit, the bond of love between them. So for us to like, to give ourselves to each other and to receive from one another. To give and to receive, to breathe out and to breathe in. Breathe out and to breathe in, to give away and to be provided for. You know, it's really, it's really beautiful. But you know how and what would that look like for us? Well, that's that secret conversation you have with the Father in prayer. The Father who sees in secret, sees your heart will repay you in secret, we know will speak to you your how he will speak it to you in your heart. So no state imposes on you a how to live, no church impose posing how to make decisions on you. The Father who sees in secret will lead you in secret he will speak to you in your heart. If you need help hearing his voice, well, that's where conversation with other Christians and the grace of the sacraments comes in. And especially devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, since her soul magnifies the Lord for us and we realize her greatness is simply the greatness of God. Greatness of God, Yeah. So Samuel Clemens, Mr. Mark Twain himself, would have been attracted to St. Joan of Arc. Surprise, surprise. St. Joan of Arc's destiny so informed her days that everything she did in the way that she lived was, was like pointing us to, to God. Remember that time when Jesus says to his apostles, where I am going? As he's going to the Father, where I am going, you know the way. And Thomas is like, jesus, we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way? And Jesus is like, well, do you know me? Like, yeah, we know you. We love you. Well, then you know the way. Remember, he says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. How many ways are there to God? Of course, Christ is the way. How many ways are there to Christ? As many ways as there are people, Pope Benedict would say. But this is what the human person can be, a way to God. This is how God has revealed himself to us through the human person and how we make him known to one another even now. Yeah. That's why it's exciting to think about someone whose life was dark and getting a little hopeless to be so revived by St. Joan of Arc. Just this little girl who was even put to death. But it was the, it was the how she lived and even how she faced death, that. That. That freed this man from the fear of death. All right, this man's getting old. I like revisiting Sunday with you. I feel like this podcast enables me to live it twice. Joy of being with you in the church is magnified by spending a little time with you on the podcast. Like this. I'm just turning this back on for a sec. Do you know, I'll share with you in light of what we're saying today about knowing where we're going in order to know, therefore, like, how to live in the meantime or how to make our way to that destiny. The way I've begun to edit these podcasts is by starting at the end. I do talk for a little bit longer than I actually post for you here, so there's a little editing that goes on. So I start at the end, here's where it goes, and then that's what I apply to making a judgment about all the other things that I. That I said.