Disk 1, Lecture 1, PDF from Temi.com

And if that is not a thumb thing, it is a somebody, his name when coop is called along the light, go out, darkness falls. And then if your life has gone vary with the word in this book and be compressed into one word, big kernel word, Jesus, the [inaudible] In many and various ways. God spoke of all through our father, by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by a son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears. The very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. God, our father so loved the world that he sent. His only begotten son that whosoever would believe in him would not perish, but have eternal life. In the last two classes we spoke about God's revelation. Now we're going to speak about man's response for that loving revelation of God. The response is called faith. Faith is a word which is much used in sometimes even abused. And so a good understanding of faith is necessary. The catechism provides that for us. Scripture tells us that without faith, it is impossible to please God. Now, if that's the case and I believe the word of God, I want to know all about faith, because I do want to please God, and I know you do too. And so we're going to look into this great mystery of faith. Great is the mystery of faith. The catechism teaches Austin. Number one 42, where I'm going to be beginning for those who are following along by his revelation. The invisible God from the fullness of his love addresses men as his friends and moves among them in order to invite and receive them into his own company. The adequate response to this invitation is faith. What a beautiful gift faith is. Many of us have had that gift since the day we were baptized. I was baptized when I was 10 days old and it isn't infused gifts, theological virtue, faith, hope, charity. Those are the three theological virtues. Faith basically is to think and to act with offense. The obedience of faith. Faith really is to posit an act of obedience by faith. Man completely submits his intellect and his will to Bob with his whole being man gives us a fence to God. The revealer sacred scripture calls this human response to God. The author of revelation, the obedience of faith. We hear the word of God. God reveals himself to us in the person of his only son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Our response to that revelation is the obedience of faith. That word obedience to obey comes from the Latin verb or bowel today through here or listen to through here or listen to in faith is to submit freely through the word that has been heard. And the reason we do this is because it's true. The truth of that word we have heard is guaranteed by God who is truth itself. Now, one of the rather common misconceptions is that we believe what we can understand. That's not faith. That's seeing it. I'm going to go into this in a little more detail, but we walk by faith, not by sight. Now that does not mean that we shouldn't seek understanding. We must seek understanding. God's given us an intellect and it's oriented towards truth. And so we should seek understanding, but there is no opposition between faith and reason, but faith and reason are not the same thing. The problem with reason is that it often quickly becomes unreasonable. Our mind is finite because we are creatures. Bod is the only one was infinite. Our finite mind, mind is not fully capacitated to encompass to embrace the infinite bond. We can understand. He reveals to us and that's all, but it doesn't mean there's opposition or contradiction between faith and reason. No, but we walk by faith, not by sight. First, give the obedience of faith, the assent of faith. Why should I do that? Because of the one who reveals himself to me, his name is truth. He has absolute truth. He can neither deceive nor BDC. And so I accept his revelation based on him. The one who reveals it to me, he's trustworthy. He's trustworthy. Believe me. You can prosper bod. You can't trust me and you can't trust anybody else, but you've been trust God, he's fruitful. He's faithful. If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful. He's the truth itself. And that's why we give him the obedience of faith. Okay? Abraham is called the father of all who believe the letter to the Hebrews and its great eulogy of the faith of Israel. Ancestors lays a special emphasis on the faith of Abraham. You remember what happened to Abraham? He became the father of many nations. He went through a place that he didn't even know where he was going. God gave him a promise and Abraham walked in faith. In the sense he walked in darkness. He didn't know how that, that promise would unfold. What did he believe? You didn't know where he wants to go. He lived in a street as a stranger and a Pilgrim in a foreign land. God even then asked him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, what did he do? Did he question God? He did not. He acted in faith cross thing that God has gone. The God knows what he's doing. Laying down a principle in a rule for all of us who believe even when it seems like it doesn't make any sense. And you and I both know sometimes certain things don't seem to make any sense. God has gone. You trust him. He's got it all worked out. God doesn't have to figure it out. He's figured it out from all eternity. All we have to do is accept his wisdom and believe me, his wisdom is as far above ours, as the heavens are above the earth. The scripture tells us our blessed mother is the perfect embodiment of this faith that we're talking about. That faith, which the letter to the Hebrews, once again tells us that faith, which is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things. Not seen. Abraham believed God. And it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Our blessing mother believed God to remember what happened at the annunciation. The angel Gabriel announced to her that she would conceive and give birth to one who would be called the son of God. Our lady did not understand all of this. She was a little Jewish girl waving from the coming of the Messiah. And although she didn't understand it perfectly, she said yes beyond me. He's the golden dome bedroom tomb be it done unto me. According to my word that's faith. Even though I don't understand it all, God, I accept your will be it done unto me. According to my word, you know, as we go through this teaching this year, I want you to make this a continuing spiritual exercise. This is not mere head learning. You know, we have to learn the intellectual part is very important, but if it stops there, it's not enough. We have to interiorize it. We have to make it part of ourself, part of our own life, our own mission. When we do that, then we become who we are called to be. We actualize our full human and Christian potential to be Jesus Christ. The one who is not only through God, But truly human as well. And so our lady is the perfect personification of this space from the first moment of the annunciation and the incarnation all the way through her son's life for the pain, the abnegation, the suffering of the cross. She remained a full stop at Martha. The Lenten him begins. She stood at the foot of the cross, faithful, faithful. Everybody else does nerve to Jesus, but his mother and a few of the good women St. John remained faithful at the foot of the cross. They were not concerned about the disgrace of it. They were not going to abandon Jesus. When the hour of evil had come, they remained faith fall right to the end. Our lady is the perfect personification of this great gift of faith. The catechism reflecting the teaching of the church throughout the ages, teaches us that we are to have absolute faith in God alone. You do not put your faith in me. You do not put your faith in any human being. You put your faith in God, father, son, and Holy spirit. I can bring Jesus to you just as you can bring Jesus to me and to other people. We are instruments. We are vehicles that transport, the good God into the hearts and minds of other people. But the one we believe in is God, all my team, because I'll tell you something. You're setting yourself up for a great disappointment. If you put your faith in a man or a woman that we can foul where we're human we're creatures, we're finite. Our virtue is limited, but God will never fail. And so the catechism teaches us, put your faith in gone Bob alone, father, son, and Holy spirit. He will never let you down. Everybody else might let you down. God will never let you down. He is faithful. He is true because quite simply he is truth itself. Group personifying definitions are very helpful. There's a principle that I want you to be aware of. I don't want you to ever fall into the trap of allowing apparent contradictions to be set up in your mind. There is no contradiction between knowledge of God and love have gone to know him is to love him. As you love him, you'll want to know him. There's an interconnection, never fall for that tired. Okay? That head knowledge, that study of the faith, isn't really important. Never fall for that terrible yet subtle error. It's a heresy. Really? It would have you believe. What is important is faith, not the faith. Anyone who makes a statement like that doesn't understand either faith or the faith. If you have faith, what is your faith in your faith is in God, right? Definitions are important. You need to memorize certain things. Memorizing certain things. Doesn't diminish our nobility as human persons. It helps to enhance our nobility helps us to come into the focus of our nobility as children of God. You need to remember certain things. Can you imagine if an engineer or a physicist said, I don't want to remember formulas. Formulas are not important. The bridge would soon collapse. You have to remember certain things, a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant. I don't care what it is. We all have to remember certain basic things about whatever it is that we're involved with. It's common sense. So it is with the faith. Now, let me give you the church's definition of the theological virtue of faith. It's number one eight one form in the catechism. [inaudible] Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that God has said and revealed to us and that Holy church proposes for our belief because he is proof itself by faith man freely commits his entire self to bod. For this reason, the believer seeks to know and to do God's will the righteous shall live by faith and living. Faith works through charity. Now let's just look at that definition for a moment. A lot of times there are subtle deficiencies in people's understanding. If you ask most people, do you have faith, brother? I say, Oh yes. I believe well. Amen. I'm glad you believe. What do you believe? Why believe in God. Good. But do you understand what it means to say? I believe we believe in God. If you believe in God, then you believe what he has revealed and said, belief in God and belief in his revelation are inextricably one, your pants take one and reject the other. That is a very subtle error. If you believe in God, then do what he says. If we believe in God, then accept his revelation. And in order to do that, of course we have to accept the church's teaching. There is no separation between Christ and his mystical body, the church, and you cannot rack it out. Church teaching, especially that part of it that you find uncomfortable and yet say IBB. Because underneath that statement, I believe you have put up certain roadblocks, I believe, but I don't really believe this or that or the other thing doesn't work that way to believe to have faith means yes, you believe in God. Is that enough? No Satan believes in the existence of God. He's seen him face to face to believe in the existence of God is, is the beginning, but it's not the end. We're believing God. We believe everything that God has said and revealed to us. How can you believe it? If you don't know what is, you have to hear it first. How are you going to hear it? You listen to your mother, the church, and your mother tells you all about Jesus. That's the faith you obey. Then what you have heard the obedience of faith. So to believe in God, to believe everything God has said and revealed, and to believe everything, Holy church proposes or our belief that last one, often trips people up. It doesn't say who believe part of what? Holy church proposes for our relief. Now I know that's hard sometimes. And I sympathize. I really do. You might not think I do, but I really sympathize with anyone who struggles with this or that teaching of the church. I sympathize with it. But only to a certain point, a thousand doubts or I should say a thousand difficulties. Don't make a single doubt. An old saying from the fathers a thousand difficulties, don't make a single doubt. Don't doubt the teaching of Christ. Don't doubt the teaching of the church. There are many difficulties. Why are there difficulties? Because our mind is limited and doesn't have a full capacity to apprehend the fullness of truth. If it did, we'd be gone. If we add a mind that were infinite, we'd be gone. Well, what are we trying to understand? We're trying to understand God by definition is infinite. And so our capacity for understanding the fullness of the revelation of God is limited. And so it is no wonder that we struggle with this or that teaching of the church, but you must trust. We do not accept church teaching because it is plausible. That is a ridiculous error. We do not accept church teaching because it sounds good. We accept it because God himself has revealed it. And I trust him. I prof that he knows what he's doing. His revelation has come to me through my good and Holy mother of the Catholic church. I believe it. Do I understand it all? I do not understand it all perfectly and neither do you. And neither did the greatest saints and doctors of the church, whoever live. We understand what we're able to and the rest we accept on faith. We walk by sought by faith, not by sight, but once again, do not think that you just then say, well, I don't need my mind. Then I just blindly go along with what the church teaches. No, we have a mind and it's made for truth. And we are to use our mind to come into greater of that truth. But faith precedes, understanding Saint Anselm laid down one of the great principles for all theological reflection, fetus quadrants, intellectual faith, precedes understanding faith opens the portal for the light to flood in Saint Augustan said, I believe that I might better understand. And I understand that I might better believe as you come into a greater understanding of this mystery, we call our faith. You appreciation will increase. Your faith will be solidified and mature, but walk by faith first, say yes to God, Lord. I do not understand it all. But I believe at all, I have five university degrees, including a doctorate in theology, but you know what? There is very little that I understand about God, because God is infinite. God is so beyond us. The one thing that I've learned, the more I've learned is how little I know how very little any of us can really know, because what we are studying and seeking to understand is the mysterious inscrutable, ineffable God almighty when he loves us. And he is willing to reveal himself to us. And so we do the best we can. So remember this definition of faith to believe in God, to believe everything God has said and revealed to us, and to believe everything will be church proposes for our belief. Why should we do that? Because God who reveals his truth himself, he's trustworthy. I trust him. And I'm sure you do too. That's faith. That's beautiful. Embrace them. There are two dimensions of this mystery of faith and you can't separate them. My brothers and sisters please do not fall into the trap of banking. What's important is my faith. But the faith is not of much importance. That is an absurd statement on the face of it. You are faith and the faith are one because of you say, I have faith. I say to you, what, what faith, faith in what? When you say I have faith, that means you believe what do you believe? Anything? Everything. No. We believe in a very definite, absolute and objective body of doctrine that doctrine all the words that are in the Bible. All the words that are in the catechism, the fathers, the doctors, the church documents, all those words. They can be distilled into one only word, the eternal word, Jesus Christ. That is what we believe. But what is your concept of Christ the Lord? What is your understanding? Anything you want it to be? No, it is what God has revealed it to be. He said, I am who I am. God is precisely who he is. He is absolute. He is objective. He is through irrespective of the subject, perceiving him. I may think God is for persons. I would be wrong. And I can think that all I want it won't change God. One bit. God is one God, three divine persons, father, son, and Holy spirit. And so I want to know the true God. How do I do that? By listening to his church, by believing everything Holy church proposes or our belief. So there are two dimensions to faith, the subjective that's that's me. That's you? What our mind is perceiving. When I say, I believe, what do I subjective? We believe, I believe what we believe, what the church believes, what Christ talked to his apostles and what they handed on to their successors, the bishops and union, with the successor of Peter throughout the ages. That's what I believe. I believe what we believe. And I'll tell you something. We don't make it off. As we go along, it's something we've received. It is a sacred deposit, a Pearl of great price. And it does not subject will be changed at every women, fancy of a passing age in history. No, it is the same in its essence yesterday, today and forever. Why? Because it is the truth. Why is our faith? The truth? Because our faith equals gone. That's what our faith is in God. And God is immutable. That word means on changeable. Why is God unchangeable? Because he is perfect. God is absolute perfection. And because of that, he admits of no change. And so the letter to the Hebrews tells us, remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Therefore they're not be carried away by all kinds of strange teaching. The word of God tells us so certain things can change. What things can change discipline, whether we celebrate mass in Latin or English or French that can change whether we eat meat on Friday or not, that can change all kinds of disciplinary things can, and at times could change. But the essence of the faith doctrine, morals that cannot and will not ever change. I'm going to go into this a little bit more. So just understand the difference between the subjective and the objective dimension of faith. I believe you believe that's the subjective dimension. That's our faith, your faith, my faith individually, but what we individually believe is what the church believes. And that's a sacred deposit handed on to us from Christ through the apostles. We believe in this God alone with full ascent, the catechism teaches us. I don't give full ascent of my intellect and wheel to any man, but I do give it for bottle Mikey who speaks to me through the church. And yes, there are individuals in the church who speak the word of truth, the Holy father, the Bishop, and I accept what comes through them. But what I give my ascent to is what they are teaching when it is authentic, when it has come from the apostles, the teaching of Jesus Christ. That's what I give a sense to. All right. So make sure you understand that full ascent is given to God alone. We believe in that God with our whole heart, mind and strength, and for us, Christians to believe in God is at once one with believing in his only son, Jesus Christ, the one that he sent and the Holy spirit, the one who reveals Jesus to us, the one who builds us off in holding us the sanctifier the soul of the church. So what we believe in the father, son and the Holy spirit, the father revealed himself to us in the person of the son, the father, and the son then sent the Holy spirit who confirm us in the fullness of this divine revelation. And so I'd give the full sense of my mind and my will for this revelation of God, our father, the faith has certain characteristics, which identify them. First of all, faith is a grace. It's a gift. Have you ever run into that frustrating circumstance? I know you have of trying to speak with someone, a family member or friend who just doesn't get it. They just can't believe. And sometimes we get angry. We get frustrated. Well don't faith is a gift. Faith is a gift, all good, or to the giver of the gift. When I'll tell you something, because you have the gift. And because I have a gift, that's no merit of ours, except for the grace of God, we wouldn't have the gift. And so someone who doesn't have the gift do not be hard on them, do not beat their brains out with the truth. Some of us do that. You know, I've been accused of doing that too. And I have to repent to any extent that I do that after repent, the truth is beautiful. The truth is a magnet. The truth is what the human mind has made for. And our intellect cannot rest until it rests in the proof, but you cannot force it on any human being. People have to be left free to willingly accept that proof. And so faith is a gift. That's the first paragraph. The rest of it was the giver of the gift. God, what's our proper disposition, thankfulness, thankfulness for the gift. And we need to continually pray to God, right? The Holy spirit that our faith can be renewed and built up. We need to pray. We need to sacrifice ourselves. We need to exercise the virtue in order to be built up in faith. You know, faith isn't static. Once you have it, you might say, well, I have the faith. It admits of degrees. Your faith can increase your faith and decrease your zeal for the faith can be greater or less there. And so we have to strive mightily to increase in our beautiful faith.Faith is also a human act. Yes, it's a gift from God, but it is also a properly human act trusting in God and cleaving to the truth as he has revealed to us are contrary, neither to human freedom, nor reason the catechism teaches us in faith, the human intellect and the will cooperate with divine grace, believing as an act of the intellect, assenting to the divine truth by command of the will, which is moved by God, through grace. So you see faith is truly something from God, it's a grace, but it is also a human act, a proper human act. It's the cooperation of God and man. So there's merit involved in it. Yes. First of all, it's a gift. Grace precedes everything. St. Paul says everything is grace. And if you've been given the gift and how can you both, that it's your own. If you've been giving it all, you can be as thankful. And so we are another characteristic of faith. I ballooned it to already faith and understanding. Faith is certain. Faith is the most certain thing in the universe. If I were to learn physics or biology or chemistry, these natural sciences involved proof, God created the universe. The creator who was truth itself, created the universe out of the fullness of his own wisdom and goodness. So everything that we find in the universe through science, authentic science, by the way, science, which is true to its own principles that is proof. And it's never opposed to the faith because there is no contradiction in the one truth. What part has the darkness in the life scripture tells us sometimes there are apparent contradictions. Sometimes we have what we call paradox. Our finite mind seems to think that it has found a contradiction in the faith, things that come to mind, you know, the theory of evolution, how do you square that with creation through a single set of parents? That seems like a contradiction. It's not the problem. It's not a faith. It's our mind. Science has not yet worked that out. What science should work on that and continue to strive to enter into the truth. But I tell you, when it's all worked out and the dust settles, you will find that there wasn't the slightest bit of contradiction between the truth found in science and the truth found in our faith. The faith is a higher level of proof. Why? Because God revealed it to us directly. There might be an error in thinking and this or that postulate or hypothesis and empirical science, but you can bet that there's not a single error nor shadow of error in any definitive part of the faith or morals. I believe that I would not die for the truth of one of Einstein's formula, even though he was brilliant, even though it's probably very much true, I am not ready to lay down my life for the theory of relativity or much less for the theory, the hypothesis of evolution. I won't lay my life down for that, but I'm going to tell you something in an instant outweigh my life down for the fact that there's one God and three divine person. The fact that Jesus Christ is really truly and substantially present in the blessed sacrament. I would lay down my life or the fact that Mary is a Virgin before, during, and after the birth of her only son, she is immaculate. They can see in an instant [inaudible]. And I know you would too. That is faith. Faith is a higher order of knowledge, but it doesn't mean that the lower order of knowledge is not also truth. There is no contradiction between faith and reason. There is no contradiction between faith and authentic science, Faith, and freedom. A person has to come to the faith freely you'll cannot who works. Someone to come to the faith, to come to the faith is the pump. The love because love is gone. And the faith in its essence has gone through. Now, who in here would be so ridiculous as to hire a Hitman who make somebody love you, wouldn't be loved. What kind of love would that be? I'm in love with someone. So let me go, go out and get Bruno. The liquidator to make them love me. Ridiculous. Well, that's the way it is with God. He wants us to love him freely. He wants us to come to the faith freely, the freedom of faith to be human man's response to God by faith must be free. Therefore, no one is to be coerced into accepting the faith against his will. Now the second Vatican council prop, that very clearly and it's document on religious freedom and the code of Canon law teaches that in common sense, teaches it to.And so what is our attitude to be? Look, we want to have zeal for the propagation of the faith. I want my father's kingdom to spread on earth. I want everyone to accept the faith, but I cannot impose it on anyone. All I can do is where God gives me the opportunity and a forum create, teach, or to live the faith. I just do that. And if they are disposed, they receive it. There's an old Axiom in metaphysics things don't receive according to the mode of the receiver. In other words, a person depths, what they're ready to get. You cannot jam it down their throat. And you know, you and I may have been guilty of that once or twice in our time. I don't know about you, but I know I can get frustrated. I'm learning. Even in my old age, I am learning. When I tell you, God is the one who bring someone to faith. And so I find that I pray more and talk less. The older I get, because it's through the power of grace, the power of prayer that minds are open to the truth and hearts are open to God's love. And so don't be a great person of prayer. If you would be a great teacher of the faith or through that prayer by entering into union with God, Trinity, what will happen is you won't and have grace going before you like an army, and that grace will work for you. That race will open the hearts and minds of those that you want would touch and bring to the faith. What happens in the hidden order of grace is much more or important than what happens in the public arena, you know, and the external order of preaching and teaching and kind of cases you see, there's a real relationship between prayer and catechesus to the degree, you are a person of authentic prayer. To that degree, you will be a person was able to part the faith to others. A very important principle. Faith is at once personal and communal. Now, many of us Americans, rugged individualist as we are kind of have this sense that our faith is the faith of a rugged individual. As someone who's set apart. Now just leave me alone. Let me go to God my way. And don't mess with it mean that's not the way it is. Faith is personal. Yes, we do. We have an individual personal relationship with our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, but it takes place in the community of the church. I received my faith through the church. My faith is in God. My faith is in everything God has said and reveal. Yes, I believe all that holding church proposes for my belief, but I'll tell you all that came to me through the church, the Catholic church, you see the faith of the church precedes the faith of any individual. We received Steve, our faith at baptism. If you're an infant, like I was, when I was baptized, I didn't have to use the reason. At 10 days of age, I didn't have free will. So where did the faith come? Baptism involves a profession of faith. Where did it go? I'm from, came from the faith of the community, came from the faith of my parents and godparents. It came from the faith of the church. And so this business about just being an individualist and the church leave me alone in my corner. Listen, there's a place for that. There's a place or going to bottle alone to go into your room. As scripture says, and to pray to God, to have that one-on-one relationship, but it all takes place in the environment of the church. So faith is at once personally and immunol, and those two are not mutually exclusive. You must have both, or you run the risk of losing both very important. Faith is at once personal and communal. Faith has a language. There's a specific language or faith. We do not believe in mere formulas bought in those realities, which the formulas express The formulas are important though. The formulas convey the underlying realities to us. Words are important, but what is more important? All the truths, which those words convey to us words, such as transubstantiation, that word, that the church has used for the changing of the substance of bread and wine into the body, blood soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. That word is important, but it's not as important as the underlying reality, which it seeks to convey to us. We have not come up with a better word to convey that reality, our faith isn't in the mere formulas. Our faith is in the realities that give rise to the formulas and support them. So faith has a language and we don't want to mess too much with that language. You see what happens is if you start playing games with worms, if you start giving perfectly traditional significations, new twists, you know, for centuries, certain words had a certain meaning in the church.But if you then take those words and give them a twist and a spin that results in a different meaning than what's been passed on, you run a very grave risk of not just messing with language, but messing with the faith. So words are important. Those words convey underlying realities, St. Thomas Aquinas off this very clearly the church, which is called the pillar and the bulwark of faith of truth, faithfully barns, the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. And so it is the church's business to save Bard and better present the faith, the truth, the deposit of faith. Many people don't know it. Many of you know it, you've heard it several times since last, when I started last month, the reason Pope John, the 20 convened, the second Vatican council was that the sacred deposit of the doctrine of the faith mind be better guarded and calm. He wanted to guard and better teach the doctrine of the faith. That's the reason why the council was called it. Wasn't called to open the windows. Although that was a good side effect of it. It was called that the doctrine of the faith might be safeguarded and better talk, better. Talk to who, to the men and women of today, that unchangeable truth presented in a way that we can understand as people of the 20th century, that's why the council was taught. And this catechism is the catechism of the second Vatican council came out of the council. It is filled with references to the second Vatican council. And that's a very important point through the centuries. And so many languages and cultures. This unchangeable faith has been resented faithfully, my brothers and sisters, you and I have been given a great responsibility before God we've been given a gift gift of faith, but with every gift comes a commensurate responsibility. We like all of the saints have been charged with the responsibility of handing on, in an UN diminished, non impoverished, not distorted form. The sacred deposit of the doctrine of the faith. The letter to the Hebrews is a great letter on faith. I'm going to conclude by reading to you from the 11th chapter verse 32 and following, and what more shall I say, or time would fail me to tell us Gideon Barak, Samson Jephthah of David and Samuel, and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms and forth justice received promises stopped the mouths of lions, quenched, raging fire escaped the edge of the sword. One strength out of weakness became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight women received their dead by resurrection, some work tortured refusing to accept relief that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword they went about and skins of animals, destitute, afflicted, and ill treated of whom the world was not worthy. Wandering over the face of the earth and dwelling in dens and caves. Faith is a gift. Many have gone before us. That faith is proof that faith is on changeable in its essence, that faith will build us up. That faith will fatness free because if this is the truth, that faith, that gift of God is something we must love something. We must allow for plans four months into what our faith is all about. The Lord, Jesus Christ, the one who is away, the truth and the life, and the good God fill you with this gift of faith. And may you in Parfitt wall, the church and through the church, through all the world, God bless.