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Here is something I've run into myself personally, and here's something I've run into with other people as they're growing in holiness. A misconception. Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz, and this is Ascension presents. Here is the misconception that I think, you know, I think a lot of us have bought into when it comes to. Okay, if you're going to say yes to Jesus, your life in growing in holiness is going to be this, like, steady increase in just getting better and better, holier and holier all of the time. You might have, like, one thing or two things you need to get over, but once you get past that, it's just this kind of growth, just, you know, steady, you know, increasing up into the right. No, I think sometimes we have that illusion, I guess, because of some of the stories of saints on campus. One of the favorite saints people have here is St. Augustine, and St. Augustine is famously known for his struggles with chastity. St. Augustine's famous prayer, Dear God, make me chaste, but not yet. The idea is that, yeah, at one point, though, St. Augustine, in this massive moment of trial, in this moment of despair, almost of God, will I ever be free? He was told by the Lord, some kind of voice that said, take and read, take and read. And he picked up scripture and read this line of the Bible, the New Testament. That just encouraged him in this way that enabled him to have hope in the grace of Jesus Christ, and that set him free. And once he got past that battle, right, when it's got past that struggle, it was just this straight line, boom. St. Augustine, he got dealt with chastity. Now we're just holiness, right? And I think sometimes that's. We think once I get past this, whatever this thing is, then the process of holiness is going to be pretty straightforward. I have to say that is not true. I don't think that's true for anyone in the history of Christianity. I think. I don't think it was true for St. Augustine. I think God did a great work in setting St. Augustine free from that burden of unchastity, that demon of unchastity in his life. But if St. Augustine was human, and he was, there was the next battle, and there was the next struggle, and there was the next challenge in his life, just like in your life and my life. I mean, how does. How does it work for us? How it works is man. You're growing in holiness and saying yes to the Lord. And then what happens is, typically we fall or we not even doesn't even have to be a fall into sin. We discover new areas of brokenness in our lives and this is just one of the great graces, but also some for some people, it's the great frustration is that the closer we get to God, the less worthy we realize we are. The closer we get to God and experience his love and experience his goodness and experience his justice, the more we realize, oh my goodness, Lord, I did not realize my brokenness went this deeply. That's our story. Our story is not like this one straight line. Our story is like up and then boom, up and crash and up and then crash. And it's the sense of and it again, the crash doesn't even have to be a fall into mortal sin. It can simply be the recognition of I need you more than I ever thought I did, God, I'm more desperate than I ever realized I was God, that I'm more broken than I possibly could have imagined up to this point. In that sometimes people can experience discouragement, sometimes people can experience despair because I didn't realize, I didn't realize how broken I was. I wonder if it's one of the reasons why St. Paul, he said, where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. I don't know if you've ever thought about that. Like, where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. What does that mean? Well, it means that God's grace goes to the lowest point, that God's mercy goes to the person who doesn't deserve mercy the most, but the person who needs mercy the most. Where sin abounds or brokenness abounds, grace abounds all the more. Healing abounds all the more. God's help abounds all the more. When we're convinced of this, when we're convinced that, oh God, this is not on. This is not on my works. This is not on my goodness. This is actually me trusting you in my brokenness. This is not me trusting in my own goodness. It's not me trusting in my own prayers, my own works. This is me realizing I did not realize, as I said before, I did not realize how deep this brokenness went. And in that moment, in the deep depth of brokenness, that's when I'm going to trust you. God, I didn't realize I am more messed up than I ever could have imagined now in that knowledge of I'm more messed up than I ever could imagined now. God, I'm going to trust you in this moment, God, I am weaker than I ever Thought I would be. And in that weakness, to say, okay, God, that's what I'm going to invite you into. See, too often we get discouraged by our brokenness, our weakness, our sinfulness, as opposed to realizing, oh, this is the process, this is how it goes that I realize a new depth so that the Lord's mercy and grace can reach a new depth. Right, God, I experienced a new wound in my heart. Why? So that God's grace and mercy can enter into that new wound in my heart. My encouragement is to not be discouraged by this, but to realize, okay, this is the process. Because every time we realize, okay, here's a new brokenness, here's a new depth, here's a new weakness, here's a new sinfulness and we let God have access to that. We're sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. And here's what I. Here's what I picture here we're trucking along, trucking along, you know, go and find state of grace fall. Maybe he's fallen into a sin or we just recognize, I am more broken than I thought I was. And we call it to the Lord, he, his grace doesn't just bring us back up to the level we were at where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. Realize when you go to confession, when you ask the lord for his grace, his love, his mercy, you're not just raised back up that same level, you're even higher. That's why it goes up. It just has to go into the emptiness. It just has to go into the brokenness. It just has to go into the weakness. It just has to go into the sinfulness. So once again, the takeaway. Do not be discouraged. Do not lose heart over your weakness, your brokenness, your sinfulness, your need. But in your need, in your weakness, in your sinfulness, in your brokenness to say, God, come into this. Don't just come into my greatness, my strength, my prayers, but here's how virtuous I am. No God, come into my need with your mercy and see. See how he will make you into the saint we were created and redeemed to be. Do not lose heart. Do not give up. Do not quit in that darkness. Call upon the light for always. Here at ascension presents, my name is father Mike. God bless. Okay, I have a friend who said they hate when I sing in a falsetto voice. Here we go. I believe in a thing called love.