God Goes Big (So WE can Go Home)

00:00 – Host (Host)
You’re about to listen to a special episode of my podcast. It’s part of a series of daily brief podcasts that I’ve been streaming live to social media and making them available exclusively on my website, catholicadventurercom, but only for subscribers to my website. So this is really intended to be a subscriber-only episode, but, by special request, I’m making it available in my standard podcast catalog. That’s why you’re listening to it now. If you would like to subscribe to my website and support my work, you can do so by going to CatholicAdventurercom and following the links you find there. You’ll be supporting my work, helping to put food on my family’s table, and we thank you very much for it. Catholicadventurercom five bucks a month dirt cheap, and my family. Thanks you very much for your consideration. Now let’s get into the episode. Here we go. Hello and welcome. Thank you for joining me.

00:58
This is the CatholicAdventurer live throughout the galaxy. It is November 22nd in the year of our Lord, 2023. I’m very happy that you’re joining me today. I’m going to be talking today about how God goes big so that we can go home. God goes big every time, with everything, everything. God always goes big. Let’s fade that music out. If you’re joining me on X at For the Queen BVM, and if you’re catching me on YouTube, first of all, if you’re catching me on YouTube and Facebook, it’s a miracle because everything went wrong today. So if you’re catching me on Facebook and YouTube, you’re doing so at CatholicAdventurer and once again, at For the Queen BVM on X, where I am super, super active. If you’re not joining me there, you’re missing a lot. So pardon me as I try to get my thoughts together. I have a nice little show lined up for you today and you know that it’s going to be a good show and it’s going to affect people. You know when that’s true. You know that that’s true when everything goes wrong, when everything goes wrong, everything went wrong. So obviously this is going to affect a lot of people. So the devil is getting in the way of it, and I’m not being dramatic there, I’m being very, very serious.

02:21
So before we actually start the show, before we get into the subject, let me just explain how we’re going to do this today. First of all, my original plan was to take calls. I don’t think I’m going to do that now, because it was just catastrophe getting on the air today, on the digital air today. Catastrophe, catastrophe, unbelievable. You should have seen it, you wouldn’t have believed it. So I don’t think I’m going to take calls today, but what I am going to do is I’m going to do.

02:47
There are going to be two legs, I guess, to this show. The first, we’re going to talk about how God goes big. Every time, god goes big so that we can go home. You’ve heard this before go big or go home. Well, god always goes big so that we can go home. And then, for the second leg, I’m going to talk a little bit about today’s mass readings. I’m going to talk about today’s mass readings, which I have been over the past couple of days, daily broadcasts, because they’re just so powerful and there’s so much we learn, especially in the book of Maccabees over the past couple of days.

03:27
So how do you get the second half of the show and why am I doing it that way? I’m going to make this very brief because I know you want to get on with the good stuff, so I’m going to make this very brief. So if you go to my website, catholicadventurercom slash live, or you go to the link in my bio, there’s a link there to the live page and on the live page on my website I have the streaming audio there because I only do audio. I have the streaming audio there. I also have a live chat room there that you can log into with your ex or Facebook credentials. I do not get that information. That’s really between you and your social media platform. I don’t get that information. It’s just you’re able to log in with that information to make it easier for you so that you don’t have to log in through some third party. So once I transition the show over there which it’s there streaming right now but it’s everywhere streaming the second half of the show will only be on my live page on my website.

04:29
God goes big so that we can go home. Let me set a foundation for you like this Everything that God does is a big deal. I mean a really, really big deal. He doesn’t do firecrackers, he does atomic bombs, kind of deals. Everything he does is a big deal. If you look at the history and I said this on ex this morning if you look at the, just for one example, the salvation history of man and that’s just one example it’s a big example, but it’s only one example. If you look at the salvation history in scripture and you go from Genesis all the way to the gospels. Salvation history is a pretty big deal. Every step of the way it was a big deal. Every single step of the way, from the history of the Jews, the exodus of the Jews, parting of the Red Sea, moses, the Ten Commandments Everything was a big deal. So God didn’t. When God, for instance, brought Israel out of bondage, he made a big deal out of it, starting with the plagues Well, not starting with, but including the plagues right? God didn’t just appear to Pharaoh, right? God sent a messenger to Pharaoh and said if you do not do what I’m asking you to do, I’m going to rain hell down on Egypt. And he did 10 times. I think there were 10 plagues, right? I’m pretty sure 10 times. You look at the parting of the Red Sea pretty big deal. Did it play out the way we see it in the movies? It probably wasn’t that. It probably wasn’t like that, but it was still a big deal, right? Even the Egyptian. It was legendary throughout the region what God did for Israel, including the parting of the Red Seas. Okay, it was legendary throughout the region because God goes big. Then you look at the prophets, the miracles, the signs and wonders through the prophets, and so on and so on. Right, you look at the victories of Israel. You look at everything in the gospel. God goes big, everything is a big deal. Why is that and how is that? God is the eternal truth. Everything that comes from him, everything that comes from him, is found in him perfectly. Some things you don’t think about humor, our sense of humor comes from God. Humor, intelligence, creativity, holiness, obviously, beauty, everything, everything that comes from God, everything that you experience every second of your life, and even things that you don’t even know about or don’t know about yet. Everything that comes, everything that is, comes from God. Right, and so everything that comes from him is found in him perfectly, wholly. Not H-O-L-Y, w-h-o-l-e wholly is found in him. Okay, he has the best sense of humor, he’s the most beautiful, he’s the most incredible creator, and so on. Everything is found in him perfectly. So when God acts on something, when God acts on the created order, the human order, whatever, when God acts on anything, he orders it and brings it to a sort of perfection. So why do I say sort of? When he acts on us, he can’t bring to bring us to perfection. We would have to become like Adam and Eve before the fall. That happens in heaven. That happens in heaven. Ultimately it happens, but it doesn’t happen on earth, right? So he brings it to a sort of perfection, he orders it rather to a sort of perfection. He goes big. Everything is a big deal when God acts on it. Why? Because God doesn’t shortchange Himself, right, god doesn’t shortchange Himself.

08:37
If you give your children a gift or if you act on something, you don’t do it in a cheap way. You try to act on something or to provide something in the most perfect way possible that you have the capacity to provide or to do, to act Right. Jesus says something like this in Scripture you know who among you would give your child? I think a serpent, when he asks for bread, or something like that, or might have been a rock when he asks for bread. You try to act, to order things to a certain perfection, right? And how imperfect are you, how flawed are you? Yet you still try to bring it to a sort of perfection to reflect the wholeness of your intent and desire. Well, if humans do that, why wouldn’t God do the same? And when God orders something to a certain perfection, he’s doing it from the perspective of perfect being, from the point or from the position of perfect being. So he does everything big because that’s who he is.

09:53
I feel like I wrote an article about this on my website once. I’ve been doing this for a few years, so I’ve kind of lost track with what I did and didn’t write Ideas that I had but I didn’t actually make them happen. But I’m pretty sure I did that one. I’ll find it on. I’ll put it on this episodes on demand page. I’ll find it. I’m pretty sure I did that. So God goes big with everything, even the church. Even when he established the church, he went big. The church is a very, very big deal. I’m going to get into that in a second and I’m going to get into a few other examples where God goes big and we’re going to talk about why and how he went big in those examples.

10:31
First, a quick break from the action. Just want to say hello and welcome those of you catching me live on X at For the Queen BVM. Hello, welcome, thank you for joining me, and if you’re joining me on YouTube or Facebook, you’re doing so at Catholic Adventurer and I want to thank you for joining me. I want to also tell you these daily broadcasts will not be on demand permanently on socials the day that I do them, these daily things. I have to organize this better, I guess, so that it’s easier to tell the daily things from my standard podcasting. But these daily things will be available on demand on social media the day that I broadcast them, and then they will be taken down and they will be moved exclusively to my website, catholicadventurercom, and they will be for subscribers only, so you have the day of the broadcast to catch them if you’re interested in them, and then they get moved to my website and they’re for subscribers only. You can subscribe to my website and get exclusive content for $5 a month Dirt cheap, and you know what you’re doing. For $5 a month, you’re not sending me and my family to Maui. You’re helping to put food on our table and we thank you very much for it. Again, thank you for joining me on this flustered day.

11:45
So let’s get back into it. So I say even the church is a big deal For this component of the episode. We’re talking about examples of where God went big. I mean really big. He went big in relationship to himself, and how big and serious and bold is God right? So let’s talk. We’re going to talk about a few of those examples of God goes big so that we can go home. The first that I wanted to point out is the church.

12:12
So there are a few showstoppers in the history of creation, right, a few like amazing things. One of them, I would say, is the creation of the angels. One of them is the creation of man. Showstoppers, things that went. They were like, wow, that is a huge deal, huge deal. One is the creation of the angels. God created spiritual beings, spiritual creatures, with a person ship who had a free mind and a free will, because before the angels only God had that right. And then he made human beings big, big deal, because we’re spiritual and physical, also a free mind and a free will. I won’t get into that, but I could do it. I could talk for an hour about why that’s amazing.

12:58
Then he made not then I’m not going in order, but just bear with me God also created space and time. He created space and time. It’s easy to look at that and say that’s a showstopper, that one’s pretty amazing. But I would disagree, because for the infinite to create the finite to me is just another day at the office. He’s infinite, the finite isn’t that big of a deal, not from the perspective of the infinite, it isn’t. So for the infinite to create the finite not really a showstopper. But you know what is?

13:33
When God established his holy church? That’s a showstopper. The beacon of goodness and truth in a fallen world. And it’s a mirror reflection of the incarnation, which I’m not going to talk about yet. I’m going to get into that later. But it’s a mirror image of the incarnation, where God became man to plant the beacon of truth and goodness in a fallen world, right Sort of a gateway to heaven, and then the mass itself, or a reflection of what goes on in heaven. That is a showstopper, more so than the creation of space and time, in my opinion. That is a showstopper.

14:16
The establishment of the church that is a showstopper. God went big, really, really big. The pillar and foundation of truth. God went big so that we can go home. The establishment of the church. So take the church seriously, take the faith seriously, take your faith seriously. Respect it for what it is. Don’t try to invent it for what it is, as something that it isn’t. Respect it for what it is, you know, because it’s a showstopper. It’s one of God’s showstoppers. The establishment of the holy church. God went big so that we can go home, really, really, really big, my friends, pray and meditate on this yourselves. But I believe very strongly that the establishment of the holy church is much more of a showstopper than the creation of space and time. I really firmly believe that. Hey, it’s just my opinion. You pray on it, meditate on it, see what the Holy Spirit says to you.

15:11
Now, one of my favorite showstoppers, where God went so, so big, is the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. God became man. When God did that, he infiltrated enemy territory and took on human flesh. He became one of us. Let me be very clear God became one of us. As St Paul says, he emptied himself of his glory to take on human flesh. God, okay, the creator of everything, god became a human being.

15:53
Showstopper. I mean, the world is swimming in sin, the human order is fallen. What can possibly make all of that right? And God said, well, I guess I’ll have to go down there. I mean, that’s a really big deal. That’s a really, really big deal. I almost feel like the devil looked up to heaven when that happened, when the incarnation happened, I feel like the devil looked up to heaven and said hey, that’s not fair. Hey, that’s not fair, you’re cheating. Nothing else can save humanity except for God becoming one of us so that he can sacrifice himself for us, which is still a tremendous mystery to me.

16:38
In the incarnation, god went I mean, you know, we see all of these images of the baby Jesus and the manger and the Christmas crash and all this stuff. We often easily lose sight of just how big that is that God, god became one of us. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. That’s big, that’s huge. God doesn’t do cheap tricks. God doesn’t dole out chump change. He was born of a virgin. Why? Well, it’s just an interesting trick, it’s an interesting miracle. Nope, that is not why.

17:12
For God to take on human form or human nature right, obviously he has to be born right. But to be born in the usual way of human generation, to be born in the usual way of human generation, sin would have to be passed from the parents to the child. To be born in the usual way of human generation, he would have to be born in sin. And if he was born in sin, if he were staying by original sin, he would not have been the unblemished Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. The plan of salvation could not have worked if he were born in the usual way, right by the union between a man and a woman. So the man had to be left out of it. But he still needs the God still needs a body and therefore he needs a womb and therefore he needs a woman.

18:14
And so God, in God’s formula, a man was left out of it and out of the generation, out of the physical generation of a human being, a man was left out of it. In other words, a man was not left out of the picture, a man was just left out of the formula for human generation. That’s it. And Then the woman that he involved was a pure and sinless creature. And you know, mary was sinless and she was perfect and virtue and all this. But Even her immaculate conception, right, she was conceived free of original sin. Even her preservation from original sin is an act of God.

18:54
Where God went big, where God said you know, jesus, the, the merit, what you merit on the cross later, I’m going to apply now In the conception of of Mary who will be your mother. I’m going to apply that now. Again, I feel like the devil looked up to heaven and said, hey, that’s not fair, hey, you’re cheating. You can’t do stuff like that Big deal. God went really, really big. He went really big in the incarnation and In the consen and in the incarnation of Jesus and the immaculate conception of Mary. He went really big, no cheap tricks. And then Jesus is born Right, and then for a period we don’t see a whole lot of big going on, largely because the gospels don’t offer us a lot of the story of Jesus’s early life. Right, you know you have the magi coming along and you know doling out gifts.

19:56
I I don’t think that’s a big thing. We have a limited amount of data in terms of Jesus early life, so it’s hard to say if God went big for the first 30 years of Jesus life. But we must. We should look at it this way that some things that we do know about Jesus’s early, early life may actually be very big, things that we just think are trivial because to us they are common. Maybe the holy family is a is an example of God going big. Because maybe the family is an example of God going big. But because to us it is common. We don’t see it as something big, but maybe it really is. If the family is the domestic church and a reflection of the holy trinity itself, maybe that’s a much bigger deal than we give credit for. What else do we know from Jesus’s life?

20:57
Let’s take the finding of the temple, which I can meditate on, on that all day. Maybe I’ll share a meditation on the fine of the finding of Jesus in the temple. That’ll probably be for subscribers only, though. I have to do some stuff for subscribers, even though I only have like one or two of them. If you’d like to be a subscriber, it’s five dollars a month go to my website, find the links, click them.

21:22
Okay, so the finding of the temple, jesus is, I Guess he’s fielding questions and he’s asking questions of the elders, right? So we have the, the establishment and growth and expression of knowledge. And then, when Mary and Joseph find him, we also have almost avoid of knowledge, because they’re confused by what Jesus says to them, right? So we have the expression of knowledge, the building and growth of knowledge, and then we have avoid of knowledge, the absence of of a knowledge or of an understanding, maybe. Maybe, knowing and understanding, maybe these are big deals that God built into the human experience that we just take for granted, because they’re common, because to grow a knowledge and understanding is an interaction with truth itself. It’s not just interaction, an interaction with true things, it’s an interaction with truth itself, intrinsic in the human, in the created order, or inherent, rather, in the created order. Maybe that’s a an example of God going big, giving us the ability to. You know, the angels don’t have the ability to learn. We do. Maybe that’s a bigger deal than we give credit for. Okay, that’s another one. I can talk for hours about that one. We have to move on.

22:58
Then, in Jesus life, we see him now get this one, because this is, this is really amazing. He heals the lame, he restores sight to the blind, he cures lepers, he liberates those possessed by the devil. Right here we see that he didn’t just make people feel better, he made them be better. He made them to be better. He didn’t just make them feel better, he didn’t just ease their pain or ease their suffering, he made them be better. That’s God going big.

23:39
Let me tell you, jesus restored sight to the blind, right? Okay? Wouldn’t it have been a bigger trick To say you know, it sucks that your eyes don’t work? Let me give you a new set of eyes. It might be tempting to think that would be an even bigger trick, but no, it wouldn’t. That would be a cheap trick. That would be a cheap trick. Here’s a new set of eyes. Now you have four. To the don’t work, but to the work perfectly. That would be a cheap trick. Here’s a new set of eyes. I’m going to replace the ones that you have that don’t work, and I’m going to replace them. I’m going to take those ones out and replace them with these ones that do work. Cheap trick by comparison. Why? Why? Because Jesus, in Restoring the sight to the blind, healing the lame, whatever, he restores a thing to its perfection, he doesn’t just give up on it.

24:34
He doesn’t give up on those blind eyes, on that shriveled hand, on that lame, broken leg, whatever. He restores things to their perfection, he does not give up on them, and that is a big deal, because he is truth itself. Right, when he acts on something, he restores it to the truth of its being and he restores us to the truth of our being. But it but damn does it take a lot of time, and I’m going somewhere with that, by the way. So put that in your pocket. Don’t forget that. He restores us to the truth of our being, but it takes a while. It takes a while.

25:16
So, jesus, doing all the healing and restoring to sight and all this stuff, that’s a big deal. Not just because it’s God Showing his mastery over nature, god showing his mastery and supremacy over the created order. It is that. But that is not Entirely why it’s a big deal. It’s easy to say well, he made somebody, he made a blind person see. That’s a huge deal, yes. But it’s not a huge deal just because he made them see, or he made them walk, or he made them well, or he made them whole, or he freed them from demons. It’s a big deal because of why he did it and how he did it. He restored the broken to to perfection. He restored that which is diminished from its perfection. He restored it to perfection without giving up on it. He restored it to its perfection. He restored the eyes to their perfect state. He restored legs and bodies and and even minds to their perfection. It’s a pretty huge deal. The perfect acting on the imperfect Raises it to a still, to a state of perfection, to a state of perfection.

26:31
And that brings me to the ultimate point of this, as I close the first half of the show. Before I get to the point, let me remind you if you’d like to continue this episode, check out my website at Catholic adventurercom slash live. You’ll also see the link in my bio. I’ll be continuing the second half of the show. We’re gonna be talking about the mass readings of today in my super, super anxious state with everything having gone wrong at the start of the show. So Again, catholic adventurercom slash live is the live chat room in the show. Slash live is the live chat room. In there you can log in with your Social media credentials.

27:10
I do not get that information. It’s totally safe. It’s only. That’s only to make it easier for you. Has nothing to do with me. I don’t get that information. I don’t keep that information. My system does not store that information. It’s all good and golden, all right.

27:24
So the ultimate point of this is of the God goes big thing we’re always asking for, asking God for things, many things, sometimes silly things, right, sometimes they’re silly things we’re asking God for. They might be important to us, but ultimately they’re silly. Believe me, I can recite a litany of stupid things that I’ve asked God for that were that were not so stupid to me at the time, but often it’s important things we’re asking from God, really important things, sometimes desperate things. I’m there now. I’m in that position right now. You know, I’m out of work, with a family to provide for, and every day I Look up to God and I say God, what is your problem? Why are you taking this long? And so on. But and that’s believing this is not the first time in my life I’ve had that experience where I’m just waiting forever for God to answer what really is a desperate and worthy prayer. And that’s all of us right, always asking God, even if, even if it’s this prayer God make me holy, or God help me to get over or overcome this sin, or God help me to help me with this crisis, this health crisis, this life crisis, whatever Then sometimes it seems just God is just dragging his feet.

28:51
Why? Well, sometimes, sometimes because it’s for a good Right. Sometimes God is like I’m going to answer that prayer, but not yet. Or I’m going to answer that prayer, but you’re not ready for it yet, right? And sometimes his answer to a prayer is no. I Think, I think I personally think Now, no is still an answer, right. So that’s still got answering a prayer. But I think God doesn’t really say no. I think usually his nose are really not yet or his nose are Okay, I’ll do that, but not the way you’re asking for it, right? I don’t really think he says no to a prayer. I don’t think. But sometimes too, maybe more off.

29:38
More often than not, god takes, seems, seems to take forever to answer a prayer, because he doesn’t go cheap. He goes big every time. It’s his nature, it’s who he is. God goes big. Everything he does is big and serious. He restores all things to a sort of perfection. I say sort of, because we’re in a fallen order, in a fallen world. Right Perfection only exists in heaven. So he orders everything to a sort of perfection, and sometimes that’s hard to do. It’s not hard for him to do, it’s just hard to make manifest in a world that is so imperfect. But when God comes through, he comes through big In the most oh man, I’ve experienced this a few times in my life. He comes through in a way that’s big and unexpected and super, super, super surprising, super surprising. Boy, has God got a sense of humor?

30:45
God goes big, and that’s why sometimes it seems like he’s taking forever to answer a prayer. Because how long did it take him to rescue us from sin? Thousands of years, from the time of the fall to the time of the crucifixion. Right, because it took time to put everything in place. I mean, there were so many components that had to be put in place before his plan could be carried out. So I would say, when you’re in a position like that, just keep praying, keep praying, keep praying. Annoy God with your prayers, pound down the door to heaven with your prayers and be patient. God goes big. Every time. We’re the ones who go small, we’re the ones who are cheap. But God isn’t like that. He restores all things to a sort of perfection. He restores all things to a state of truth. He restores all things to a state of truth. Sometimes that takes time. Sometimes we’re the ones who get in the way. Pray to God for the things that you need and ask Him also pray for the grace to not get in the way of the things that you need.

32:02
That’s gonna take us to the close of the first half of this show, which is streaming live on X at 4, the Queen, bvm, facebook and YouTube at Catholic Adventurer. I’m going to continue this show talking about Sacred Scripture. Today’s Mass Readings Maccabees is just an amazing book. I’m gonna continue this show on my website, catholicadventurercom slash live. Catholicadventurercom slash live. You’ll also find the link in my bio if you wanna get lazy and not type it out, and hopefully I’ll see you there. I’m gonna take two minutes, all right. So welcome to the second half of the show. You’re catching me on my website at catholicadventurercom, or you’re catching this on demand and you’re probably a subscriber, and I thank you very much for your support. You’re helping to put food on my family’s table. You are certainly not sending us on exotic trips to Maui. Thank you for your support of what I do.

32:58
So the whole point of why I do what I do is to bring people closer to God and to build people in holiness. Not because I’m so super holy myself. You know I’m on the journey with you, but that’s the whole point of why I do what I do. I can talk all day long about news, about Catholic news, about politics and all this stuff, but it’s kind of not what I do and it’s really not what I want to do. I want to do something that really matters, you know, by helping God to make saints by bringing people closer to him and closer to holiness. So there are a hundred things I could do these podcasts on, but I choose to do them only about things that make others holy. And so I’ve been doing. I’ve been either mentioning or talking about mass readings over the past few daily live broadcasts.

34:00
We’ve been in the book of Maccabees lately, excuse me, at least for the first readings and between Maccabees and the gospel readings you can tell the church, or God, through the church, is paving the way for Advent. Right Advent is where we prepare for the coming of the Lord. And right now we’re in this phase where we’re preparing for the preparation of the coming of the Lord. You can see the pieces coming together. So I’m going to go through at least the first half of Maccabees and I’m going to talk about why it’s so moving.

34:39
Second book of Maccabees, chapter seven. It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges and scourges by the king to force them to eat pork, in violation of God’s law. The first thing that stands out to me in this reading is that seems like the modern world today, that we’re punished and punished and punished by the culture, by society, sometimes by employers right or by people we trust, were punished because they’re forcing us to consume what is false, in violation of God’s law and in violation of reality. They’re forcing us to consume what is false through the eyes, through the ears, through compelled action, compelled speech. They’re forcing us to consume what is false, in violation of God’s law and in violation of God’s reality, the reality that God made.

35:44
Going back to the reading, most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother. Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother Boy. If that isn’t an echo or foreshadow of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I don’t know. What is Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother who saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord. Again, we’re seeing an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary here, because the Holy Virgin washed her son, executed and murdered, tortured, tortured and then executed and murdered, and yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord. Amazing, absolutely amazing. Filled with a noble spirit that stirred her womanly heart, with manly courage, she exhorted each of her sons in the language of their ancestors, with these words Now listen carefully to these words.

36:54
I do not know how you came into existence in my womb. It was not I who gave you breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed. Therefore, since it is the creator of the universe who shapes each man’s beginning as he brings about the origin of everything, he, in his mercy, will give you back both breath and life, because you now disregard yourselves for the sake of his law. We can talk about how this foreshadows the cross in a sense, or not to foreshadows the cross, but the cross happened so that what she is saying can come true, that the Lord will give you back both breath and life. That only happens because of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But let me back up this whole idea of it was not I who gave you the breath of life.

37:56
You know where we first see the breath of life when God breathes life into Adam. You know where also we see a sort of breath of life when Jesus breathes on the apostles and tells them to receive the Holy Spirit. The breath of life gave Adam, I guess, spirit in life, right, maybe that was the insolment of the human creature. The breath of life. When Jesus breathes on the apostles, he tells them to receive the Holy Spirit, which they do subsequently at Pentecost. But this is also a breath of new life, right To receive the Holy Spirit. And sandwiched between these two references we have here, it was not I who gave you breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed. That’s pretty deep. Now fast forward. Well, maybe I don’t have to read the whole thing, but I will fast forward to the explanation.

39:07
So the king implores this woman to convince her son, the last of the seven, to just give in, eat the pork. He says I’ll make him rich, I’ll make him wealthy, I’ll give him power, or I think. He says it to the son and then he tells the mother to convince him and the mother is like OK, I’ll convince him. And then she goes to talk to her son again, again in a language the king doesn’t understand, but she doesn’t try to convince him to give in. She says this son, have pity on me, who carried you in my womb for nine months, nursed you for three years, brought you up, educated and supported you to your present age. I beg you, child, to look at the heavens and the earth and see all that is in them. Then you will know that God did not make them out of existing things and in the same way the human race came into existence. Do not be afraid of this executioner, but be worthy of your brothers and accept death so that in the time of mercy I may receive you again with them.

40:14
Wow, the time of mercy is the resurrection. It’s life after death, which not all Jews believed in. I think the Pharisees did, but the Sadducees didn’t, for instance. This is hope in a resurrection to come, or it might not be hope in a physical resurrection, or it may be, but it’s definitely hope of a resurrection of life itself to come. She had scarcely finished speaking with when the youth said what are you waiting for? I will not obey the king’s command. I obey the command of the law given to our fathers through Moses. But you, who have contrived every kind of affliction for the Hebrews, you will not escape the hands of God. Wow, this is a real hero’s story, maccabees. You who have contrived every affliction for the Hebrews, you will not escape the hands of God, but I will die I’m adding this part but I will die out of loyalty to him and to his law and to the covenant. Then in the Gospel first let me just check in here real quick Then in the Gospel this is the Gospel of Luke While people were listening to Jesus speak, he proceeded to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and they thought the kingdom of God would appear there immediately.

41:52
Now listen to this folks. See if it sounds familiar. A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return, he called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them engage in trade with these until I return. His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce we do not want this man to be our king. But when he returned, after obtaining the kingship, he had the servants called to whom he had given the money. So he had the servants called to whom he had given the money to learn what they had gained by trading. You might remember this, folks. It might sound familiar if you remember the parable of the. I think it was Ten Talents. No, it might have been, it was Ten, something Else, but the parable of the talents, where he gave each one talent according to their worth or something like that. And he didn’t mean a talent was a measure of money, right. But it’s this we’re seeing the same lesson playing out here so far where he gives the servants money and tells them to trade with it, right?

43:10
The first of the servants came forward and said sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones. And he replied well done, good servant. You have been faithful in this small matter, and so take charge of ten cities. Wow, is that all it’s going to take to be in charge of ten cities? Because I can do that. Give me a gold coin, I’ll turn it into ten. No problem, come hell or high water, that one coin is going to be turned into ten gold coins. If, in response, I’m going to get command of ten cities, I’ll take it. Actually, that’s more power than I want, I think.

43:47
Moving on back to the scripture, the second came and reported your gold coin, sir, has earned five more. And to this servant too, he said you take charge of five cities. Then the other servant came and said sir, here is your gold coin. I kept it stored away in a handkerchief for I was afraid of you.

44:13
Now you remember, with the talents in the other gospel story, the other parable, he had buried it right For similar reasons to what we’re about to hear here. I kept it stored away in a handkerchief for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man. You take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you did not plant. So he said to him with your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. Can you imagine I said something like this on Twitter a few days ago? Or on X? Can you imagine Jesus saying this to you with your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. Could you imagine that you knew I was a demanding man, taking up what I did not lay down and harvesting what I did not plant? Why did you not put my money in a bank? In other words, why didn’t you put it to work? Then, on my return, I would have collected it with interest.

45:12
And to those standing by he said take the gold coin from him and give it to the. So he takes the gold coin away from him, gives it to the one who has 10. They’re like but why would we do that? He already has 10. And he replied. The master replies everyone who has more will be given, will be given more, but from the one who has not even what he has will be taken away from him. And then he concludes with this line Now, as for the enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me. That’s it. Bring them here and slay them before me.

45:55
Wow, I wonder if this is intended by the Holy Spirit, that it connects to what we saw in the book of Maccabees. But here we have a just king and in Maccabees we have a wicked king. In Maccabees he’s slaying them because they will not apostasize. Basically, it’s a little bit more layered than that, but that’s ultimately what it is. They won’t apostasize here. They won’t subject themselves to the king of kings In Maccabees. They won’t convert to an evil king with an evil religion In the Gospel. They won’t submit to the true king in the religion of truth. We can see it that way. It’s not explicit, but we can see it that way.

46:44
I don’t think at the resurrection, jesus is going to say okay, all those who didn’t convert, slay them before me. I don’t think he’s going to say that literally, but that’s pretty much what’s going to happen. Why do I bring all this up Especially in a show where I just got done talking about how God goes big with everything. First of all, there are about a hundred little lessons to learn from just these two readings. I’ve only shared a few thoughts with you. You should go back and read them yourself, the Gospel readings or the Mass readings for November 22nd. Go back and read them yourself because there’s so much to learn in there, because God goes big In a single line. He could be telling you a dozen things, but also here’s why I bring this up when you look at what the Holy Spirit gives us in the book of Maccabees, I mean that’s an incredible, incredible, epic story.

47:42
God goes big. When you look at the Gospel, you see that God goes big. Also because God goes big in his tenderness and in his mercy. He goes huge. God goes big in his generosity. You turn one coin into ten. He has ten cities for you. He also goes big in his justice, because he’s perfect and he brings everything to perfection or to a sort of state of perfection that includes his justice. Take the one coin away from him and give it to the one who has ten. Wow, I mean that’s pretty big, like wow, you almost hear that and you almost want to say, hey, take it easy, take it easy on this poor guy, right, but God goes big in his justice. He goes big in his mercy, very big, but he also goes big in his justice. God is a serious player and at the end, what do we see For those enemies of mine? I mean, how blunt is that For those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to be their king, bring them here and slay them before me? Yes, this is Jesus Christ saying that it’s a parable, but it’s a parable from the mouth of Jesus, right, it’s kind of a foreshadowing of the resurrection or, I guess, of the final judgment.

49:11
People see nothing. People tend to see nothing but fluff in the Gospels. You know, I was, you might be familiar with this quote. If you believe what you like in the Gospels and reject what you don’t like, then it isn’t Jesus you believe in, but yourself. I think that comes from Augustine. I don’t remember, but that’s basically a quote from a pretty authoritative saint. I just don’t quite remember who it was. I think it was Augustine.

49:39
If you believe what you like and reject what you don’t like, then it’s not the Gospel or Jesus you believe in it’s yourself. What that tells us is there are things in the Gospel that people will not like. There are things in the Gospel that people will not like. It kind of catches you by surprise because there are no commandments in the Gospel. There are principles, but there are no. Thou shalt nots. Thou shalt nots. I’m not going to get into it, but there are principles in the Gospel. We all know that.

50:09
Usually when we say the Gospel, we associate that usually with fluffy things. God is love, god is mercy, god is kumbaya. God is soft and fluffy and delicious. The only hard thing. When someone says Gospel to 99% of the population of the general public, let’s say the general public, because practice in Christians it might be a different thing, but the general public, general public they hear Gospel, they’re thinking fluffy, flaky, soft kumbaya. The only hard thing in the Gospel for most people. I think I’m pretty sure this has got to be true the only hard thing in the Gospel is the crucifixion, and that happens to somebody else. We don’t hear Gospel, believe in the Gospel, and our first reaction usually isn’t that there’s stuff in there that’s going to be hard to take. Right, it’s all fluff, but no, the Gospel is hard. The Gospel again. God does everything big, right, or does everything to a state or to a sort of perfection, brings everything to almost reflect himself, right. So when God quote unquote did the Gospel, he went big. When Jesus lived.

51:31
What we see in the Gospel, the three-year ministry of Jesus, he goes big in this Gospel message, first thing well, not literally the first thing out of his mouth, but when he says, repent and believe in the Gospel, that’s a big deal. It isn’t just to change your life, or rather it’s not just to believe in the Gospel, but it’s to change your life. It’s one message where people often see it as two messages and they forget the first part. They forget the repent part. This Gospel reading at Mass today is an example where we see God is a serious, serious cat, jesus is a serious player and the Gospel is a serious message. I mean God Jesus talks more about hell than he talks about heaven and he talks about salvation and judgment all the time.

52:24
Now those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them, or you’re going to pound on the door. You’re going to say, lord, lord, let us in. I’m going to open the door and say I don’t even know who you are. Depart from me, you evil doer. Beware, there’s going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth. You’re going to be tossed into the fire, going to separate the wheat from the chaff, yadda, yadda, yadda.

52:46
I mean it’s a hard message. It is all of the beautiful stuff. I wouldn’t call it fluff, but the average person in the public would probably think of it that way. It is the kind of soft stuff or the lovely stuff. The easier stuff to take. It is that what’s the greatest commandment? Love one another. The greatest commandment is love. Then I think he said another one the Moses and the prophets can be summed up by one commandment love one another. It was something like that. It’s not a direct quote, but if it was something like that, right, a big part of the gospel message is love, love one another as I have loved you. You hear love, love, love, love all the time. In the gospel it is that. It is that.

53:41
But it’s not just gushy flesh. The gospel, it’s also strong bones. God goes big and that means he doesn’t go lopsided as soft and gushy as people think the gospel is. Well, that’s in there, it is in there. I wouldn’t call it weak, but it’s so. You know, I don’t know a good synonym for it. I don’t like soft and gushy, but I don’t know a good, more appropriate synonym for it. So forgive me. But though that light and warm and lovely stuff is in there. Yeah, it is in there. But God is not lopsided. That would be dumb, he would be selling himself short to be lopsided. In the gospel we get the whole truth. So as much as there is the light and the fluffy and the airy in the gospel, there is also those who didn’t want me as their king. Bring them before me and slay them.

54:41
And it’s not just, you know, violent stuff or stuff about death and judgment, it’s, I mean, folks repent and believe in the gospel is a hard message. Right, the God, the principles we see that that are exhorted or represented in the gospel. It’s a hard message. It’s hard to love others. It’s hard to pray for your enemies. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall. I think they shall see God or they shall inherit the earth. I forget what the poor in spirit is supposed to be doing. I think it’s inherit the earth. It’s a hard message. It’s a hard message to be poor in spirit, waiting to inherit the earth, to be denied everything, so that God can restore you with everything, or with a different kind of everything you know.

55:32
Anyhow, let me not over talk this. I’m saying that a lot because I over talk things a lot. The readings are incredible. I encourage you to please go back and read them, and don’t just read them, but meditate on them. Find something that stands out and really rest your mind in it. Really, really rest your mind in it. Meditate on the word of God, because that’s going to turn you into a saint. It is going to turn you into a saint and that’s going to do it for the first and second half of this show. That’s the whole show. Oh boy, it was a rough start, but I think it went all right. Follow me on X at 4, the Queen BVM. Follow me on Facebook and YouTube at Catholic Adventurer. Thank you for joining me If you caught this as a subscriber. Thank you for subscribing and supporting my work. God bless you. God be with you all. Bye, bye.