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[Music]
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hi my name is father Mike Schmitz and
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this is ascension presents so I always
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think about this how strange it is when
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we have our fast days and we have like
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our days of the standing from me
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particularly during Lent that how many
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people have trouble with it like how
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many of us like I'm not as those people
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like how many of us like this is tough
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this is a tough day no think about this
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yep standing for me on Fridays during
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Lent is not that difficult fasting on
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the too fast days we have an entire
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church here is not difficult I mean you
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know what the church rules for fasting
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are are what you can eat two small meals
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and one regular sized meal that it's the
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quantity of the food you take in is does
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not exceed the two smaller meals
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combined it's the foot it's not you can
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eat a lot but in fact I think that what
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what you would be alike allowed it to
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eat on a fast day as least as Americans
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could potentially be more than 99
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percent of the rest of the world eats on
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a feast day so so here's the interesting
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thing it's not difficult but it's often
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difficult right so it's not difficult to
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how many days that we probably go in our
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lives without eating meat and don't give
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it a second thought
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on Fridays during Lent oh my gosh it's
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so tough our same kind of thing with Ash
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Wednesday Good Friday like no just the
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lighter meal day it's not even that it's
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not challenging it's not painful why is
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it so hard
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here's why I think it's so hard at times
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because those other days I am not eating
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meat because I don't want to eat meat on
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those other days I'm just eating less
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because I chose to eat less on Ash
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Wednesday Good Friday on the Fridays
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during Lent it's hard to do those things
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because someone else is telling us we
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have to do that that's the key it's only
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difficult because someone else is
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telling us we have to do it on that day
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the church comes in and says if this is
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if you're Catholic this is what you have
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to do there's not an option you must do
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this and that just grates on our ego
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writing grates on our pride because why
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because you and I are the same we'd like
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to do what we like to do I want to do
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what I want to do and here comes the
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church and says no listen you have to do
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what I say mmm is tough so if if I was
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given an escape clause right if I was
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given a way to get out from underneath
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the authority of
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scripture or the authority of scripture
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sacred tradition the authority of the
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church then I would be we would probably
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be probably be really tempted to take
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that escape clause now into this
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situation enter the term conscience
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right because I'm sure we've all heard
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the idea of like you know you must
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follow your conscience you have to obey
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your conscience in fact if you're kind
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of in I can informed Catholic you would
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realize that the Catholic Church puts a
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high value on conscience John Henry
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Cardinal Newman he's oh sorry Blessed
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John Henry Cardinal Newman he called
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conscience the Aboriginal Vicar of
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Christ which means that the original the
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Aboriginal voice of God in the person in
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the individual and so we take that I bet
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one phrase that Cardinal Newman gave and
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we run with it right my gosh well it
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conscience is the voice of God himself
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then I must obey my conscience because
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that's God talking to me now
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here's the here's that here's the table
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of troubling thing or the difficult
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thing is that Cardinal Newman went on to
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say a bunch more stuff about well
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forming your conscience about what it is
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to have a conscience that actually bends
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in is is shaped by God himself and by
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the church so there's all these other
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pieces here so I can't just pull out the
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term conscience and say well if my
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conscience tells me that this is okay
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then it's okay because that's not how
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conscience works and that's also not
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what conscience is so what is conscience
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and what is conscience not what is not
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conscious what is what is it what is it
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not okay here here's what it's not a cop
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my conscience you're our conscience
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isn't our personal preference right our
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conscience isn't our opinion like so we
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look at this thing and say why I know
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the church says that that's wrong but I
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don't I don't I don't see anything wrong
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with it no this is very important
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because that happens a lot well the
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church says the ex is wrong but I don't
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see anything wrong with it I don't see
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why therefore I can do X that is not one
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that's not following one's own
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conscience that is doing what one wants
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to do that is very very very clear very
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important to understand this in fact a
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well-formed conscience will more often
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convict a person of their sin and more
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often I guess we might say like compel a
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person toward repentance
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and affirm them and what their actions
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are right so this is important a lively
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conscience will more often convict you
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of what's wrong and call you on to do
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what's right then we'll just kind of
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affirm you in doing like oh yeah this
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seems this seems right
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in fact even more the voices voices
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inside of us right like is that is that
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my conscious is that the original
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Aboriginal Vicar of Christ it also could
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be the voice of the flesh which is my
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fallen human nature it also could be the
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voice of the Evil One the liar
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it can be the voice of the world that's
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influenced me so to such a degree that
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yet the world says this this thing is
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not a sin so clearly it's not a sin I
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have no problem with that
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if the our conscience is gonna be the
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aboriginal Vicar of Christ it's me the
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void voice of God living inside of us
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that necessitates a couple things
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well one Ignis that states we understand
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who we are and who we are is we were
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born out of relationship with God I bet
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this is it
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this is well we're gonna talk some
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original sin here we're none of us are
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born in right relationship with God it's
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the result of the original sin or the
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original wound that were we all inherit
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so we're born out of right relation to
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God we have to be brought into right
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relationship with God we are not born
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under the dominion of Jesus himself as
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the Lord we have to submit ourselves and
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surrender ourselves to Jesus in faith
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and hope and love with him as our Lord
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in fact even st. Paul goes so far as
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this well Jesus cuz the scripture goes
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so far as to say then you actually have
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to die like the old you has to die
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those old desires they have to be
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converted into into new desires those
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old ways of thinking have to be
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transformed in fact what st. Paul says
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he says do not conform yourself to this
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president but be transformed by the
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renewal of your mind now that is a
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painful process it means I have to stop
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thinking like myself in some ways stop
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thinking like the world and has to start
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thinking like God again it involves a
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death and so if I would say like only
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I'm like my conscience is well-formed
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but I haven't undergone a death like I
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haven't undergone the decision to place
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myself my mind my actions my twill
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everything under Jesus Christ's dominion
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then it is very unlikely that my
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conscience is well formed
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it's very unlikely that the Aboriginal
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Vicar of Christ the voice of Christ is
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going to be loud enough in my own heart
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again keep this in mind a well-formed
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conscience is not just like yeah we know
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I know what the Catechism is I know what
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the Bible is more or less a concha wolf
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own conscience means that I have spent
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time in prayer listening to God's voice
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reading his word letting his church form
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the way I think and look at myself look
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at God himself look at the world I've
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allowed this to happen and again here's
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this key thing I have died to myself in
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this process like I have died to myself
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in this process that is absolutely
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required if I haven't done that again
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this this is kind of one of those key
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things if I haven't done that then my
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conscience is likely not very well
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formed even further if my conscience or
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what I think like what what I think
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basically comes into conflict with what
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the Church teaches or what Scripture
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teaches and reveals then in those cases
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it is very its most like likely that my
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conscience needs the forming not the
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church is teaching meeting changing does
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that make sense again again this is so
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critical our conscience more often binds
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us to something to do something than it
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does release us from the obligation and
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then this is really important I said
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that's why I guess our conscience more
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often is concerned with our duties or
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our responsibilities than it is with our
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rights like I get to do this in fact a
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well-formed conscience is more
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preoccupied with the question what does
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God want then with the question what do
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I want a welcomed conscience is more
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preoccupied with the question what does
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God want then with the question what do
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I want because we realize this our
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conscience we can feign ignorance like
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we can feign like I didn't know that's
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what God wanted we could also have a
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hardness a hardness of heart inside of
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us that says well I know but I just damn
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can't seem to bring myself to this right
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just can't see it we all have this
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fallen human nature we all have this
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desire why because we all have the pride
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we all have the ego we realize right we
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are conscious we can feign ignorance we
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can pretend like oh I didn't know what
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God wanted right didn't know that was
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that serious or we can even have
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hardness of heart and this is that sense
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of like well I don't think it's a big
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I think I want to do what I want to do
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why because we're all the same we all
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have the same stupid ego and the same
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stupid pride that just doesn't want
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someone else telling us what to do
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and so conscious is not an escape clause
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conscience in fact is is is almost
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giving giving us the research in
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pointing out conscience is giving us the
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responsibility to say actually you have
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a duty of responsibility you know to act
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in a certain way that is accordance with
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how God has revealed himself in a Sacred
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Scripture and in sacred tradition and
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through the teaching of the church it
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does not give us permission to make
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ourselves the exception as we've talked
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about in another video this all whole
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thing reminds me of at the end of the
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day what something G K Chesterton had
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said he was a convert to the Catholic
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Church a bunch of years ago and one of
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the things he said was we don't want we
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don't need a church that is right when
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we're right we need a church that is
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right where we're wrong and that's what
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I think all of us need this whole idea
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that like I can say like well I can
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dismiss with this church teaching or
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that church teaching because what my
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conscience tells me that's okay then
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it's just baloney also here's the other
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thing here's a quick last thing um you
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saw I've talked to people who say well
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the priest told me that was fine
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so priests told me we should go ahead
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and do this thing and so we did the
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thing and now here we are and it's it's
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fine though because the priest told me
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to do it no no just like our
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consciousness can be malformed there a
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priest that can be malformed and if then
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you know what the Church teaches and
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this priest says don't but the church
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teaching will change in the future do
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not listen to him
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please please please please I know that
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we should be able to trust the teaching
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of our local pastors and all that kind
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of stuff but if you ever hear either
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your interior voice or the voice of a
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priest or someone in authority saying in
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this case you're the exception in this
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case go ahead and do the thing the
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church will change its teaching just
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turn around walk away and get some
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better advice
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I'm so sorry about that because I know
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it's that big that kind of bad advices
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destroyed the lives of so many people
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yeah Wow I kind of ended
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a real sour note didn't we well we
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certainly did but at least it's nice
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outside and we're in the middle of Lent
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right now or whenever you're watching
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this video I want to invite you to like
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already said that smash like we just
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click the like button we're always here
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to since representative oh my gosh we're
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all from all I can say it from all this
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year it doesn't represents - all that
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Mike
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god bless oh my goodness I just don't
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even know there's so long wasn't wasn't
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super long my gosh tab
