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Welcome to Unpacking the Mass with Keith Nestor. On this podcast, we dig into the week's readings for the upcoming Sunday for the Catholic Church so that when you go to mass, you are ready to hear what God has to say to you through the Scriptures. So grab your Bibles and let's get digging. Hey, friends. Welcome to Unpacking the Mass. Today we're looking at the readings for the second Sunday in Ordinary Time. I hope your year is going well, your Christmas season is going well, the octave of Epiphany, all that kind of stuff that you've been in, it's amazing. There's so many cool things that the church has for us this time of year. And today's readings are going to help us dig into a familiar idea that many of us have around the new year. And that is, what are we trying to do? What's our mission? What's our plan? Have you ever thought about that before? Today we're going to look at readings that help us to understand the right way to approach those questions. What is my personal mission in life? What am I doing here? And I'm excited to get into it. So let's begin with the word of prayer. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord Jesus, through your mission, we can have a mission because you have redeemed us. We thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness, for your vision, and for your love, and the fact that you created each of us for your purposes. Help us to discover that purpose given to us by you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. All right, let's look at our first reading from the book of Isaiah, chapter 49, verses 3. And then 5 through 6 reads this way. And he said to me, you are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified. And now the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him and that Israel might be gathered to him. For I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength. He says, it is too light a thing, that you should be my servant. To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel, I will give you as a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Awesome stuff. Okay, our second reading, a really short one, but interesting. From the book of First Corinthians, chapter one, verses one through three. Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ. Jesus and our brother Sosthenes to the Church of God, which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And then our Gospel From John, chapter 1, verses 29 through 34, which reads this way. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, after me comes a man who ranks before me, for he was before me. I myself did not know him. But for this I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness. I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him. But he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and born and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. Pretty cool stuff we're talking about in the really in the Old Testament, reading, the mission of God, the mission of Israel, and the mission of the Messiah. And what does this mission say? I like how in verse 6 it says, is it too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel? But then he broadens the mission and says, I give you as a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. This is important. The mission of the Messiah was not just about one particular group of people. It was a mission that was about the rest of the world. But what's so interesting to me is that this mission of Christ wasn't fulfilled by Christ in and of himself. What I mean by that is this Jesus? I don't care what the Mormons say, Jesus never went to the far ends of the earth personally, in the flesh. He never left the region of the Holy Land. So how does he do this? Well, the answer is through us. And this is what we're going to get into, my friends, as we look at his mission, how that feeds into our mission. Now, we typically get this backwards, don't we? Because most of us approach our life from the sense of what is our mission and where is that foundation? Oftentimes it's found by looking inward. It's looking at ourselves and going, what do I want my life to be about what's my purpose, what's my mission, and what informs us on that is how we feel. What do you like? What don't you like? What are you comfortable with? Where do you feel happiest? Things like that. But what we see in Christ is that our mission is not created by ourselves. It's received unto ourselves. And that's the key distinction here. The Messiah's mission was to go beyond Israel, and yet he can't fulfill that mission. And I use that word, you know, in a. In a certain sense, without us. Why? Because he's incapable? No, it's because this is what he chose to do. In essence, his true mission is to form a mission in his people, that his mission through us might be fulfilled. That second reading, of course, shows us that from Paul's perspective, look, we're called to be saints together with those who in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. This is establishing the fact that mission isn't individualistic entirely. Mission is communal. We are all part of this mission. We're going to get into this in just a couple minutes. And then, of course, as we look at the Gospel, we see this mission. I love this. You know, John the Baptist with these words, this is of whom I said, after me comes a man who ranks before me. That's John the Baptist speaking about Jesus, of course, those amazing words, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That's one of my favorite times in mass, by the way, when the priest elevates the host and commands us to behold the Lamb of God. He's speaking right from the scriptures there, right from the mouth of John the Baptist. And of course, John recognizes his mission and he recognizes Jesus mission. He's the first one or one of the first ones that was able to connect those passages from the Old Testament, from the prophecies about the Lamb of God. I mean, you think about this in Genesis when. When Abraham and Isaac are up on the mountain and what does Abraham say? When Isaac's like the fire and the wood, but where's the lamb for the. Where's the ram? God himself will provide for the sacrifice. And John the Baptist is like, whoa, he connects that. That's important because we have to make that connection, too. Now, why is this important for us when it comes to our own personal sense of mission? Because the world tells you that you need a mission. You need a mission statement. You need some kind of purpose. And I agree with that. I think it's important for us to live lives that are intentional, directed by something. The question is what are they directed by? And society, the world, all kinds of stuff. Will they love to talk about this? Because everybody has this innate sense of that. So when some guru comes out or some self help person comes out with a new way for you to figure out what you're supposed to be doing, manifest your future or declare it, name it and claim it, whatever it might be. And a lot of times it's wrapped in religious lingo, which is sad. But the reason why is because it works. Because ill formed or improperly formed Christians will latch onto that stuff and think that somehow this is connected to their faith when the reality is it's a deceitful tactic that actually works, completely contrary to the faith. But people get sucked into that because we all want to know that there's a greater purpose to our lives. So how are we to find out? How are we to understand what God's plan is for our meeting, for our mission and what we're supposed to do about it? How do we discover our mission? I'm going to give you six things here. I know last week I talked about three things. Now we got six. Can you believe it? All for free. You didn't have to pay extra for these, for these extra three bonus things, right? But I'm going to tell you what they are right now because I want you to think about that. You need to have a personal mission. See, because here's the thing. If you go through life without any sense of direction or any intentionality, your mission will be to handle the day's issue. Just get through to supper, just get through to the next night's worth of sleep. You know, I've worked with a lot of people over the years who in their lives, they didn't have any kind of sense of ultimate purpose. All they cared about was, alright, where am I going to get my next meal from? What's going to happen? And it wasn't because they were, you know, give us this day our daily bread. It was because they didn't know what their life was about. And they didn't want to do the work of being intentional. They just wanted to focus on the here and now. But that's not really a fulfilling life, is it, my friends? Life is meaningful and purposeful and ultimately will give us joy. And when we have a sense of purpose, because then when we recognize that even the difficult things that we go through fit into that purpose, you know. Romans 8:28, all things work to the Good. Of those who love God and are called according to his purpose. There's a little hint there. Then. Even the bad things we recognize have a part to play in the fulfillment of our mission. But where does this come from? How do we understand what it is? What going to dig in right now. And the first one is this. If you want to understand your mission, the first thing you have to do is know God. Know God? You might say, why do I have to know God to know my mission? Well, it's simple. Because God is your creator. God is the one who made you. If I buy a particular piece of technology and I want to understand it, I have to know what was the purpose that it was created for. And how do I. Where am I going to learn that? From the one who made it. The guy who wrote the manual. Right. The person who designed it a certain way and has the instructions for us to understand. I have to talk to the boss. The person who created it. You've got to know God because God is your creator. Now, you might think, well, that's kind of generic, but I think it's super profound because I meet a lot of people who think they know God, but they don't know God. They have created a version of God in their minds that suits their purposes. This is important because a lot of people, again, handle this from the sense of, Lord, here's what I want to do be about my mission. But knowing God means that you understand the truth of why you were made and the truth of who he is. Now you might say, well, how do I know God? What does that mean? Well, behold the Lamb of God. Behold him who takes away the sin of the world. Behold him, understand him, look to him. And who is the him? Of course Jesus, the Messiah. If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is God. Do you read His Word? Do you follow his commands? Do you spend time in prayer? Do you seek to orient your life around who he is? Or are you seeking to get him to orient who he is around who you are? If you do that, which a lot of us do, we're all guilty of it to a certain degree, then what we've done is we haven't worshiped the God in whose image we were made. We've worshiped the God in whose image we have made. Not we were made, we have made. You understand what I'm saying? We've created God in our image instead of recognizing that he's created us in His. Because how do you know that happens? Simple. When God always agrees with you. When. He always agrees with you. When you're thinking about a particular issue or a particular situation or some kind of conundrum that you're in or whatever, and you think about it and you go, this is what I think it should be. Well, then you go, what about God? Well, yeah, he agrees with me. If God always agrees with you, chances are you don't know God. You know, this created do it yourself version of God that always agrees with you. It's interesting. I talk to people all the time about the Catholic Church who say things to me like, oh, I'd be Catholic, but I don't agree with this. I don't agree with that. I don't agree with this. I don't agree with that. I was having a conversation with someone recently about that, and what I told this person was, look, that isn't the issue. Those things that you disagree with the Catholic Church on aren't really what matter. What matters is, is the Catholic Church, the Church founded by Jesus Christ, who is the fullness of the faith and teaches the truth and has the authority to bind and loose and to declare the Christian faith and to tell us what it even is. Is that the Catholic Church, or is the Catholic Church a fraud? Because here's the deal. If the Catholic Church is what it claims to be, then the fact that you or I disagree with it on some issues, who cares? What difference does that make? If you believe that that's the true church and you find yourself in disagreement, what do you do? You say, okay, well, I have to come under submission. I have to conform my life, even though I might disagree or not understand, I have to submit to that authority. A lot of people don't want to do that. A lot of people don't want to do that with Jesus in general. You know, I was telling my friend this. I'm like, look, your problem is not with the Catholic Church. Your problem is with Jesus, because Jesus says these things. But so many people out there, they don't care. Because when Jesus says something that disagrees with their personal mission, their personal opinion, their personal idea of what life is supposed to be like with them, and they don't find a Jesus that agrees with that. They just create a new Jesus. And then of course, they create a new church. You've seen that people bouncing around because they go to one church that agrees with them, and then the pastor eventually, ultimately will say something that they disagree with. And what do they do? They go to another place, and it's this constant search for Finding the person or deity that agrees with me. Well, if you live your life that way, then why do you even need God? You understand what I'm saying? Know God. That's step one. Some of you are going, oh, this is pretty advanced. This is the beginning, my friends. We got to get to know God. We got to get to know His Word. We got to get to know what his church teaches. We have to understand that he's given us the faith passed down, as St. Jude says in his first chapter, the faith delivered to the saints. We have to be in line of that faith. As Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commands. Friends, knowing God is so important because we're not going to know our mission if we don't know God. Because God made us number two. You're going to love this one. Know yourself. Wait a minute, Keith. You just said it's all about God, not me. Well, now I'm also saying that you have to know yourself. But not from the standpoint of what do I want? Not to put yourself on the throne, but to recognize God's handiwork when he created you. Because we're not all the same. We don't have the same gifts. We don't have the same abilities. We don't have the same emphasis and focus in our life, and that's on purpose. God didn't make us all to be carbon copies of one another. He gives to us different gifts. St. Paul talks about this. He talks about how some have these certain gifts, some have these certain gifts, and they're all part of the body, and they all exist together to fulfill God's mission for the church, and we get to play a part in that. What is your part? What? What is my part? Again, Knowing yourself is about going where. What was I created to do? I got to know myself. Because how God makes you will dictate how God uses you. So how has he made you? I said, I don't understand. Well, think about it. Has God made you a person who is just overflowing with compassion? Then you'd probably be pretty good at certain types of ministry. Has he made you to be someone who just loves to be intellectual and smart and think about things and, well, maybe God's meant for you to be some kind of academic. Has God made you to have a heart for prayer? Where for you, it's like that's just what you feel like you were put on this earth to do whatever it is. Now I know you might say, well, how do I know that? Well, yeah, you got to look inward to a certain point. But. But your perspective is not, hey, what I want dictates everything. Because, you know, if that was my case, if what I wanted dictated everything I did, then I would do nothing but ride motorcycles around and play music. That would be my mission in life. Cause that's what I like to do, right? I mean, yeah, I like to hang out with my family, of course, but you know what I'm saying, like, at the base level, I would do that. Now, I love doing what I'm doing. Don't get me wrong. But what I'm saying is, if we don't understand that God made us for a specific role in ministry and we think, well, I just got to do what everybody does. We're going to be miserable. So you got to look in your heart and say, lord, show me what I'm made to do. And I know myself. I know the things I'm cut out for and the things I'm not cut out for. And I think that's important that we do that. So how do you get to know yourself? Well, ask yourself this. What is it that. And I know this is going to sound a little cheesy, but what is it that makes your heart beat faster when it comes to ministry, when it comes to the faith, what is it that gets you excited? What is it that you feel drawn to in the things of the faith? That's a pretty good indication. Now, don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that you can get out of doing the things that we all need to do because of how you were made. We all need to pray, we all need to give, we all need to serve, and. And of course, we all need to love. But how those things are lived out and the particulars of our lives work are going to vary greatly. That's the individual sense of calling that we all might feel. You talk to people who have this calling, they look inside, they're like, yeah, I feel like God's calling me to this particular vocation in life. You've got to know that about yourself. But understand, you got to know God first, and then through God, know yourself. Because as I said before bears repeating, how God made you will dictate how God will use you. Why do I need to repeat that? Because sometimes we're unhappy with how God made us. Sometimes we want to be made the way somebody else is made. And we can become envious of how God is using other people. And we can say, oh, man, it would be so amazing to be like this incredible, you know, saint who is used by God. Like, you know, Saint Mother Teresa. And that would be incredible. And I would just love to be able to. I want to do that. And then, you know, you step out and try to do something that's like that in some small way and you realize that, no, I'm not cut out for that. Or you might say, you know, I might say I want to be this intellectual heavyweight that can parse apart all this deep theology. Well, I'm not really made to do that. I'm trying to figure out what I'm made. And I think it's more, like, along these lines. Pretty. Pretty basic. Because I'm pretty basic. But sometimes I wish. Oh, yeah, I wish I was more this or wish I was more that. But we have to be content with who we are in Christ and what he's made us to do. And the key is this. You will be most fulfilled when you are living according to the purpose for which you were created. You're not going to be most fulfilled if you're living according to the purpose of. By which you wish you were created. That just creates envy and jealousy. Remember what St. Paul said, the eye cannot say to the hand, I am not the hand. You know, where would the hand be without the eye? You know? You know what I'm talking about. We have to all understand what we were made for, and we have to be okay with that. And when you meet somebody who's completely comfortable in their own skin and in the things that they are created for and the recognition of things that they aren't created for, that's when you really begin to fire on all cylinders. Because then you can start saying no to the things that don't align with your created purpose, which is the powerhouse way to live. Because there are so many ways that you can get sidetracked and hijacked. When someone comes along with something that's a good thing, but it's not the reason why you were made. It's a good thing, but it's not the reason why you were made. And I could, you know, I could give you some examples of that, because it happens to me a lot where I will get contacted by somebody who is fired up about their purpose, and they're like, oh, man, I'm really excited about, you know, this particular thing in my faith. But maybe they don't really feel like they know how to, you know, operate in that. So they'll contact me and they'll be like, hey, Keith, I'm really, really, really, really really excited about this awesome thing. And therefore, you should be as well. And you need to make this your thing too. It happens, friends, it happens. It happened in the church world all the time. Somebody would come in with this great idea of things that I should be doing right, And I'm like, well, I got things that I'm trying to do, you know, but you understand what I'm saying? When we recognize our role, we can say no. So I've had to say no to a lot of that stuff. And it's not because I don't think it's good or worthwhile. It's just. I just know that's not my purpose. So if someone comes along in your life and wants to say, hey, I have this thing that you're supposed to do, you have to have that personal sense in your relationship with God, whether that's God speaking to you or whether that's someone else just so excited that they want to pull you into their thing. And then you have to be willing to have the courage to say no when it's not, which is hard. It's hard for me because I'm a people pleaser by nature. I want to say yes to everybody. I want to say yes to everything. You know, I want to be that guy. I mean, I had somebody reach out to me one time who was like, hey, I know you meet with people and talk with people. I have some, you know, experiences with some kind of mystical visions of whatever this or whatever that, and I want to share them with you for this. And I just said, no, I'm sorry, I'm not going to do that. And they were pretty upset with me. They're like, what do you mean you're not going to meet with me? This is not someone I know. This is a stranger reaching out to me. And I'm like, I'm not going to go drive to meet someone I've never heard, I don't know anything about and sit down and listen to all the things that you think are happening in your brain. Like, that's not what I'm here to do. Because I've got. I've got people that I want to reach that I feel called to reach. And, you know, that person was hurt. I felt bad about that. I really did. And I think that that's something that can evolve over time. You know, things that we once were doing that are important, sometimes that evolves and changes. And it's hard to say no to things when you're, you know, made like me with that regard. But knowing God. And knowing yourself gives you the confidence to do that. Because here's what you need to understand, friend. If you say yes to everything that is put in front of you, then you're actually saying no to some things that God's called you to do that you. That you aren't going to be able to do now because you're busy with other stuff. So knowing yourself will help you to avoid those things that are distractions and ultimately not part of your purpose. Number three, present yourself to God. I love that. Now, we didn't go through the psalm. We don't do that anymore on unpacking the Mass. But the responsorial psalm, you know, says, here I am, Lord, I come to do your will. I love that. That's a presentation of yourself saying, God, I know you. I want to worship you. I know me, but I. I'm at your service. Put me in, coach. I'm ready to play. Here I am. Present yourself to God as a tool for his mission. That's an intentional choice that you make. It's something that you do. It isn't just like this, oh, well, didn't I do that when I was baptized? Or when, you know, I watched the unpacking, the mass, or took communion? Whatever I'm saying, make that a moment in time. Make it a daily moment in time. Make it a three times a day. Make it as often as you need to. Lord, here I am. I come to do your will. What is it? Present yourself to God and say, here I am. Send me. Just like Isaiah, you know, here I am, Send me. That's important. I think that's kind of underrated sometimes, because people. People are sometimes afraid that if they do that, one of two things will happen. Either God will respond or God won't respond. You following me there? And if God doesn't respond, then they go, I'm a loser. God hates me. And if he does respond, they're like, oh, man, what if he calls me to do something I don't want to do? So some people live in the world. It's just easier not to ask and just sort of do what I think and what seems right in the moment. But if you really want to live in that purpose, know God, know yourself, and then present yourself to God as a tool in his arsenal. Right? Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will. Number four. This is the fun one. Number four. Start living accordingly and trust that God will reveal the details. Start living accordingly and trust that he'll reveal the details. Because sometimes we can think that we have an idea of, like, okay, I want to do this, or I feel God's calling me in this direction. And then we sit, we wait for God to lay every little thing out line by line, piece by piece. And we're just like, okay, I don't understand every little thing that this involves. So I'm just not doing anything. No, live accordingly. Get out. Start making a move and trust that as you get out there, God will reveal the details to you. If you feel called to go minister to homeless people, then just get out there and start doing it. Well, I don't know how it's all going to work out, so figure it out on the fly. Sometimes you got to build the plane while you're flying it when it comes to this kind of stuff. And God's spirit will be in the middle of that. You might feel like, like, oh, I just want to share my story with the world. And I don't know how to do that. Well, I often tell people, just, hey, record yourself, make a video, tell the story. But I don't know how to just get out there and do it. I want to write a book. I'm not sure how to do it. What do I do? What's the this, what's the that? Start writing a book, Figure it out. Get in the middle of it. Just take a step forward and trust that God is going to reveal the details to you. I want to help in my parish. What do I go to priest and say? Where do you need help? Put me in coach. I'm ready to play. Sometimes we want to wait for all of the details to fall into place, and then we take a step of faith. No, live accordingly and trust that God will reveal the details. So important, my friends, I think, is really the hardest part of people because we want this assurance that everything is going to work out perfectly. It doesn't work that way. When St. Paul was on his missionary journey, there were times where he didn't know where he was going. He seen guys come to him in a dream or this or that. The Lord reveals to him things that are going to happen. It's like, okay, we're going this way, we're going that way. It wasn't all laid out perfectly for him. Remember the. The apostles in the book of Acts? They didn't have the manual in front of them. No one said, hey, go, you know, upstairs and wait in that room. But just get ready. This is Acts, chapter two. It's going to be really amazing. No one knew, but they lived accordingly and they Waited for God and then they trusted God. That's what's so important. And number five, this goes to that second reading with St. Paul calling us all saints, live in community. That's right. Sell your house and move it. No, I'm just kidding. What I mean is this. Recognize that we're not called to do this on our own, that our mission is part of a body. We are part of a body. We are the body of Christ. So what that means is this. Sometimes we're going to be a support person, and sometimes other people are going to support us. Sometimes what we do is going to seem insignificant. But then when we come along with someone else who pairs it up with what they're doing now, it all clicks. And that's huge. And that's so much fun, isn't it? We're not called into this world alone. Jesus didn't call 12 separate apostles and give them each their own mission and send them out. First of all, he always sent people out, at least in two by two. Right. And the church was gathered together. Yes, people were sent out, but for the purpose of fulfilling the communal mission. So don't live the Lone Ranger Christian life. I've seen that a lot over the years, especially in my role in ministry. Before I became Catholic, there were people that would flow in and out of different local churches, and they had their strong opinions about God and about themselves and about what they wanted to do. And they just sort of looked for different places that could be the, you know, the theater for what they wanted to do. So you might have somebody. I remember when this happened, we know we had someone who come along, and they're just like, oh, I'm a worship leader. I want to lead worship. And I'm like, oh, yeah, Weren't you at this church? Yeah, I left that church. Oh, yeah, that was. Yeah, I used to be there. I left that church. But I'm here now. And they wanted to do all the things that they. And so, you know, of course we're like, okay, maybe, you know, of course their search needs to end with us because we're the best. Right? And then, of course, they're there for a little while, and then they get bored. And then they realize that it can't be all about the way they want it to be. And then what do they do? Well, the Lord's calling me to go to a different church. Can't tell you how many times I heard it. That. And then they would leave, and they always blame the Lord. Well, the Lord's calling me to do that. They don't make any decisions for themselves. Lord just calls me to go every six months to a new place where I get to be the center of attention and I get to tell everybody what to do and I get to do things my way. And just, you know, kind of coincides with people not wanting me to do it that way that the Lord calls me someplace else. I mean, this is the reality, people. And maybe the same thing happens in the Catholic Church. I don't know. I'm sure it does to a certain degree. But there are those of us that want to operate like a one man or a one woman body, and we're not to do that. We need each other and others need us. So live in community. And number six, and I love this one, too, make your mission ultimately about others. Now it's okay to set goals for yourself. It's okay to improve and all those things. But your life can't just be about you. That first reading, right? Is it enough for me just to restore Israel? No. I'm going to the ends of the earth. Your new year can't just be about living your best life and doing your thing. It's got to be about others. It's got to be about God. It can't just start and stop with you. And why is this so important? Because sometimes people, even after hearing all of this incredible teaching, are going to be like, man, I still don't know what to do. I still can't get out of my own head. I don't know where to start. I don't know how to make this happen. Every single one of you can do this. You can find some way to serve someone else in the name of Jesus. You can find some way to minister to someone else in the name of Jesus. You can pick up a phone and call someone who you know is hurting and lonely. You can go down and volunteer somewhere in your town for people who are in need. You can find someone in your world who has some sort of need and you can meet that need because you love Jesus. And it doesn't need to be flashy. It doesn't need to be some big public thing. Sometimes it can just be the simple things. I was talking to someone the other day. We were having this conversation, and I just got the sense in my. In my heart when I was talking to this brother, you know, about some really heavy duty things. The Lord just impressed on my heart when I wanted to do the man thing and fix it, you know, he just said to me, keith, shut up. Just listen. This Guy's pouring out his heart to you. He's pouring out his heart to you. And what he needs right now is for you just to hear him, you know? I think that was what God wanted me to do that day. Maybe that's all it is for you. Really. That's not that hard. We make that harder than it is. I know I do. But it was like this peace came over me because I was like, oh, okay, I don't have to come up with something amazing. I just have to be here and really care. Like, I wasn't, like, on my phone and I was, like, looking at this guy in the face, you know, it's like, okay, my point is this. There's something for every one of us that we could do. So if the first five of these things seem so difficult and stress you out, start with number six and work backwards, okay? And what you'll realize is that you're going to get to the top a lot faster than you thought. Make your life and your mission about others. Because remember this, you don't have a mission. God's mission has you. That's the point. You don't create your own mission for yourself. God has the mission, and you and I are a part of it. Here I am, Lord. I come to do your will, man. Isn't that exciting? Isn't that amazing? Aren't we just so thankful and blessed that God has given us that kind of purpose in life? And then it's not connected to all the garbage that the world connects it to. How much money you make or what you look like or how tall you are or whether you have dumb hair, you know, or whatever it might be. None of that stuff matters. Who cares what the world thinks of us? What matters is, are we willing to be a part of God's plan and a part of his mission? And the other beautiful thing, and this is it. I'll let you go up to this is he's called you to be a part of it. There's no one that. He says, well, sorry, that's not for you. We don't need you right now. You don't have a role. Everybody has a role. Everybody has a part to play. I'm excited. I can't tell you how happy it makes me when I see people coming into their own with that. And when I experience in my own life there's nothing greater. My friends and I pray that for you and for all of us. And, you know, I kind of look at that in a sense, from a perspective of content with unpacking the mass, you know, I kind of go, okay, what's the purpose here? It's certainly not to grow a YouTube channel, because as has almost always been the case with Unpacking the Mask, this is the least consumed content I make on YouTube. It's probably tanked my algorithm. But I tell you what, it's the thing that I feel that is, in many days, the most important thing that I'm doing, and it has been for years, because it's not about what. What the world says in terms of metrics. It's about the lives of the people that tell me, hey, man, this helps me understand the mass. This helps me to learn my faith, and that's what I care about more than anything. So praise God. So sometimes we got to look at that not just from our personal things, but the things that we're doing. What kind of impact is it having? We don't judge that according to the world's metrics. We judge it according to our obedience and let God do with it what he wants. But I will say thank you for being a part of this. Thank you for supporting it. Thank you for being that community for me that allows me to do what I do. Because, again, I don't get to do any of this. None of this happens without the support of people like you. So thank you guys through, you know, through your gifts on our website, through joining our support communities, locals, Patreon, whatever. That's what allows us to do this. So, you know, maybe for some of you, that's. That's part of your role. I don't know. But it's something that I am eternally grateful for, because this was definitely one of these things that God put on my heart to do. And I can't wait to do it again next week. So I invite you to come back, bring a friend. You know, I heard from a couple of other people about small groups that they're doing. Unpacking the mass in that makes my heart soar. I know there are different groups around the country that do that, where people are getting together on Saturday mornings in a group and doing unpacking the Mass or Monday nights or whatever. And maybe that just sparks something in you. Maybe you're like, hey, I love unpacking the Mass, and I'm kind of lonely, and I would wish other people would do it. What about this? What if you called 10 people and said, hey, let's start a little small group where we get together? That's the key. Not. We all watch it in our. In our isolated homes and have a zoom call. Okay. No, get together. Find some local people and get together and watch Unpacking the Mask together and then have a conversation about it. Do it every week. It'll be a blessing to you. I think that would be incredible to see some amazing community develop and some growth happen there as well. It's just an idea. You guys pray about it and do what the Lord calls you to do. But I'll see you back here next week for another episode of Unpacking the Mass. Take care, my friends, and God bless.