WEBVTT 00:00:05.680 --> 00:00:12.260 Good evening, everyone, and welcome to this, spiritual direction certificate program, webinar. 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:16.495 This is father Robert Persueti, with Divine Mercy University. 00:00:16.555 --> 00:00:19.535 Let's begin this evening with a prayer. 00:00:19.995 --> 00:00:23.455 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 00:00:23.595 --> 00:00:24.095 Amen. 00:00:25.995 --> 00:00:28.975 We'll take our prayer from the liturgy of the day. 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:48.545 Impart to your servants, we pray, oh lord, the gift of heavenly grace, that the feast of the nativity of the blessed virgin we bring deeper peace for those for whom the birth of her son was the dawning of salvation. 00:00:49.645 --> 00:00:51.185 Through Christ our lord. 00:00:51.485 --> 00:00:51.985 Amen. 00:00:53.245 --> 00:00:56.145 Hail Mary, full of grace, the lord is with thee. 00:00:56.440 --> 00:01:00.540 Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. 00:01:01.320 --> 00:01:07.160 Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. 00:01:07.160 --> 00:01:07.660 Amen. 00:01:08.465 --> 00:01:12.625 Saint Joseph, pray for us in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:01:12.625 --> 00:01:13.125 Amen. 00:01:14.065 --> 00:01:17.265 Well, good evening, and thank you for joining us for this webinar. 00:01:17.265 --> 00:01:20.565 This webinar will be taped for a future reference. 00:01:21.480 --> 00:01:29.800 So this is the beginning of this academic year's series of webinars, starting, I guess, with the September school year. 00:01:29.800 --> 00:01:32.140 We had a few over the summer, including August. 00:01:33.240 --> 00:01:40.935 And we have a kind of an interesting series this entire year, which we'll be able to publish and make available, for all of you. 00:01:41.475 --> 00:01:57.050 This evening, we're gonna pick up on a theme that we've touched on from various angles, and perhaps the fact that we come back to it maybe between the lines tells us of its of its importance and also its depth and of its many nuances. 00:01:57.750 --> 00:02:01.770 So we're gonna go at it from a particular angle, this evening. 00:02:02.710 --> 00:02:26.860 This evening's webinar is going to be, in many ways, directed towards those that are already spiritual directors, those that are training to be spiritual directors, those in spiritual direction, or anyone with any kind of maybe general theological curiosity, particularly in the area of maybe of spiritual, theology. 00:02:28.040 --> 00:02:30.780 So we entitled this Learning to Listen. 00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:37.855 The particular angle we're gonna take here is are from some words in the gospel, which are very, very telling. 00:02:37.855 --> 00:02:41.535 So we're gonna speak about this and also the role of spiritual direction. 00:02:41.535 --> 00:02:59.540 And then towards the end, we'll spend a little bit of time speaking about the the program, the spiritual direction certificate program, and, maybe kinda what's behind it and how what might, help in many ways kind of frame, the question that we're presenting today. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:06.625 This beautiful little painting that's in back, you've probably been able to make it out, and you could probably guess what it is. 00:03:06.625 --> 00:03:07.605 It's Samuel. 00:03:07.985 --> 00:03:16.860 Samuel is a young boy as we read in the book of Samuel, one Samuel, where sleeping in the temple of the Lord well, not the temple. 00:03:16.860 --> 00:03:26.240 The temple didn't exist back then, but it must have been the, the meeting tent, or something akin to the meeting tent where the ark of the covenant was housed. 00:03:26.780 --> 00:03:33.945 And the ark, of course, which housed the Shekinah, the glory of Israel, the presence of the Lord God. 00:03:34.885 --> 00:03:40.185 And from that glorious presence, the Lord called Samuel by name. 00:03:41.285 --> 00:03:49.060 And this is the moment, I guess, this, image is depicting one of the moments when Samuel, hears that voice. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:56.960 It's probably the last one, the third one, because the first couple of times, Samuel got up and ran to Eli. 00:03:56.960 --> 00:03:57.840 You know, here I am. 00:03:57.840 --> 00:03:58.400 He called me. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:08.435 And finally, Eli realized the third or fourth time that, when Samuel, did that, that, you know, the Lord was calling to the to to the boy. 00:04:08.435 --> 00:04:18.690 And so he instructed Samuel to whenever he he heard that voice again, he was waking up in the middle of the night just to speak, Lord, your servant is listening. 00:04:18.690 --> 00:04:23.670 And this seems to capture that moment of speak, Lord, your servant is listening. 00:04:24.530 --> 00:04:34.335 There's actually a lot of spirituality depicted in this image, which might maybe start as a sort of framework for our going into the theme. 00:04:35.035 --> 00:05:08.915 Notice the open hands, which are emblematic of what the priest does in mass or what has become accustomed to do in prayer, the sense of upwardness, the sense of empty hands, the sense of receptivity, this look of boyish and child childlike and innocent anticipation on his face, the sense of longing in his eyes, really in many ways, he really is ready to hear what the Lord God has to say, something very, very beautiful. 00:05:08.915 --> 00:05:15.760 And I think we could recognize in what this image portrays, just incredible spiritual beauty, don't we? 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:20.340 Maybe something we'd all like to have and continue to cultivate in our life. 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:23.300 So let's delve into the theme. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:31.305 By the way, kind of by way inter introduction, father Robert Prasuti with the spiritual direction certificate program. 00:05:31.305 --> 00:05:35.725 You probably already know that by now, so we'll kinda gloss over this section here. 00:05:36.425 --> 00:05:43.360 And let's delve into the description, which will be maybe our point of entry. 00:05:45.020 --> 00:05:55.025 What we listen to and how we hear are an important and often overlooked part of our spiritual journey and development. 00:05:58.605 --> 00:06:03.025 Maybe not maybe not so overlooked and maybe not so underappreciated. 00:06:03.645 --> 00:06:06.925 I mean, here you are in this, in this webinar. 00:06:06.925 --> 00:06:08.820 You obviously value it. 00:06:11.300 --> 00:06:13.800 But there may be more depth here than we realize. 00:06:14.900 --> 00:06:17.800 The Lord tells us, beware of how you hear. 00:06:18.100 --> 00:06:19.380 Very interesting phrase. 00:06:19.380 --> 00:06:21.480 I don't know if it's ever captured your attention. 00:06:22.115 --> 00:06:25.975 It's recounted by Matthew and also, Luke. 00:06:26.995 --> 00:06:29.175 Beware of how of how you hear. 00:06:29.875 --> 00:06:36.855 What we hear and how we hear it can either foster our relationship with the living God or it can become an obstacle. 00:06:36.995 --> 00:06:47.070 This webinar will explore the different ways we can hear or not hear, and a spiritual direction can cultivate an ear for the things of God. 00:06:47.610 --> 00:06:49.550 Okay, let's delve into that. 00:06:50.495 --> 00:06:52.435 Let's go to the gospel passage. 00:06:52.735 --> 00:06:54.675 By the way, I misquoted there. 00:06:55.135 --> 00:06:57.535 It says Matthew should be Mark, the gospel of Mark. 00:06:57.535 --> 00:07:00.035 This is what we have here from the gospel of Mark. 00:07:00.735 --> 00:07:16.910 Here Jesus is teaching to the crowds, this particular image looks like it's the crowds in the temple, very mixed crowd, some young, some old, men and women, learning, maybe not so learned, temple guard looks like they're in the background. 00:07:18.245 --> 00:07:29.305 And Jesus in the course of his teaching says, he said to them, is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed enough to be placed on a lampstand? 00:07:29.685 --> 00:07:34.620 For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible, nothing in secret except to come to light. 00:07:35.320 --> 00:07:38.760 Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear. 00:07:38.760 --> 00:07:41.420 He also told them, take care of what you hear. 00:07:41.880 --> 00:07:46.425 The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you and still more will be given to you. 00:07:46.425 --> 00:07:48.665 To the one who has, more will be given. 00:07:48.665 --> 00:07:51.945 From the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 00:07:51.945 --> 00:07:53.485 What what do we have here? 00:07:53.945 --> 00:08:04.470 Well, we have here kind of a a number of teachings, and the gospels have a way of kind of putting together in one place, maybe series of the teachings of Jesus. 00:08:05.170 --> 00:08:08.230 Maybe this was a particular moment when Jesus was teaching. 00:08:08.770 --> 00:08:13.270 What does his aside here mean when he says take care of what you hear? 00:08:15.035 --> 00:08:16.655 It can mean a couple of things. 00:08:17.355 --> 00:08:21.055 One, it could be that Jesus is inviting them to pay attention. 00:08:21.195 --> 00:08:27.775 I'm I'm teaching you, and I'm teaching you words of everlasting life, as he would say in in different places. 00:08:28.140 --> 00:08:38.000 I have the words of everlasting life, that he speaks and his words are true because he tells us what he sees from the father. 00:08:38.140 --> 00:08:41.040 So maybe he's inviting us to an act of faith. 00:08:42.015 --> 00:08:53.635 But in most there might also be this kind of angle to take care of how we hear what comes from the Lord and preserve it in a special place. 00:08:55.110 --> 00:09:10.250 That is what our Lord says to us occupies a very unique place in our life of listening, which no other, words occupy. 00:09:11.005 --> 00:09:25.105 In other words, the words of our Lord invite a special credence, a special openness, an act of faith, which no other words that we can possibly hear, can come to us. 00:09:25.645 --> 00:09:28.170 And So our Lord is inviting us to faith. 00:09:29.430 --> 00:09:34.250 It could also mean that there are a lot of things that people are now beginning to hear. 00:09:34.470 --> 00:09:44.265 Maybe they're beginning to hear from the scribes and the Pharisees, some not so good things about Jesus, and Jesus is inviting them to a discerning type of hearing. 00:09:45.285 --> 00:09:57.230 You know, of what you hear, be discerning, and take care what you hear because what you let in might actually predispose you not to take in the truth. 00:09:57.530 --> 00:10:02.590 What you take in might actually predispose you not to hear my words. 00:10:04.195 --> 00:10:21.290 So there's something very telling here, and I think, it could be very helpful for us to sit with this for a moment that in our life and hear Christ telling his disciples, in life, you're gonna hear a lot of different things. 00:10:21.750 --> 00:10:23.450 You're gonna hear a lot of messages. 00:10:23.510 --> 00:10:25.610 You might even hear a lot of noise. 00:10:27.270 --> 00:10:28.870 Beware of what you hear. 00:10:28.870 --> 00:10:30.810 Beware of what you take in. 00:10:31.510 --> 00:10:37.715 Beware of what you let in because we are shaped by what we hear. 00:10:38.495 --> 00:10:41.075 We are shaped by what we let come in. 00:10:43.455 --> 00:10:49.315 And anyone who hears my words and puts them into practice is the one who will be saved. 00:10:50.210 --> 00:10:55.510 So what is that about our hearing that means taken into our spirit? 00:10:57.570 --> 00:11:02.550 Let's kinda sit with that because we're gonna kind of continue to maybe to go around this a little bit. 00:11:04.235 --> 00:11:07.055 But what are the types of things we can hear in life? 00:11:07.995 --> 00:11:13.455 The world, I guess, you could say the world and life are constantly bringing us messages. 00:11:14.555 --> 00:11:24.940 And what does it mean to become to have to develop a selective hearing, to really learn to hold the words of our Lord? 00:11:26.440 --> 00:11:44.465 We recall in one of the moments in Jesus' life, when a woman in the crowd, after Jesus was teaching some incredible things, said, Blessed is the womb that bore you, and blessed are the breasts I give you suck. 00:11:45.620 --> 00:11:52.520 And Jesus responds, blessed rather are they who hear the word of God and keep it. 00:11:53.300 --> 00:12:03.885 This hearing and keeping, this hearing and keeping, allowing the word to resonate, allowing the word to keep. 00:12:06.425 --> 00:12:20.380 In the passage in the gospels where Jesus's mother and brothers come to visit him, And again, a person from the crowd says, Your mother and your brother are outside and they're asking to speak with you. 00:12:21.080 --> 00:12:24.380 And Jesus responds, Who are my mother and my brothers? 00:12:25.560 --> 00:12:28.635 And he points to his disciples, Here are my mother and brother. 00:12:28.875 --> 00:12:36.015 Whoever hears the word of God and puts it into practice are my mother, my brother, and my sister. 00:12:37.675 --> 00:12:42.110 So this hearing and holding on, putting into practice. 00:12:42.890 --> 00:12:46.910 So this is why Jesus might be saying, take care of what you hear. 00:12:48.410 --> 00:12:49.630 What do we hear? 00:12:51.130 --> 00:13:09.590 Especially as men and women of God who are seeking to, to be faithful to the Lord, there are certain things that we might hear that can unsettle us, that can maybe undermine? 00:13:09.730 --> 00:13:10.950 Can we use that term? 00:13:11.330 --> 00:13:15.110 Our act of faith in the Lord, our hope, our trust. 00:13:16.130 --> 00:13:19.030 And what does it mean to take care of what we hear? 00:13:19.810 --> 00:13:21.270 What do we hold on to? 00:13:21.425 --> 00:13:22.485 What do we ruminate? 00:13:23.265 --> 00:13:25.445 What do we turn over in our heart? 00:13:26.225 --> 00:13:27.685 What are the different messages? 00:13:28.465 --> 00:13:31.605 What are the different things that are communicated to us? 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:45.220 It's interesting that here, Jesus, still in verse 24, says, the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you. 00:13:45.625 --> 00:13:48.905 Is this connected or not with that take care of what you hear? 00:13:48.905 --> 00:13:55.405 To hear with an open, a generous heart, a giving heart, one that's very receptive. 00:13:56.425 --> 00:13:58.345 To the one who has, more will be given. 00:13:58.345 --> 00:14:31.050 For the one who has not, even what he has will be taken Obviously, there's much more there than we can unpack here, but perhaps there there is an invitation to do what I think the looks of many of the faces of the people in this image, of this intent of hearing, this wondering, this turning over, this ruminating, the spiritual ruminating, wondering at the words of the Lord, letting him turn our heart over and over. 00:14:33.110 --> 00:14:34.330 Let's hold on to this. 00:14:37.670 --> 00:14:42.105 So what does it mean to take care of what we hear? 00:14:44.245 --> 00:14:56.620 It's interesting that one of the greatest activities the disciples did with our Lord was to be with him, to listen to him. 00:14:57.480 --> 00:14:59.560 What does it mean to listen to the Lord? 00:14:59.560 --> 00:15:03.100 What did it mean for the disciples to hear him? 00:15:04.200 --> 00:15:10.445 Many ways, it was to take him in, to take in his person, to receive his person. 00:15:11.785 --> 00:15:18.765 And this is what it means to hear somebody, to listen to someone that we're actually taking in their person. 00:15:19.310 --> 00:15:21.170 It's more than just hearing words. 00:15:22.670 --> 00:15:31.570 So perhaps there's something about hearing and listening that is to take and to receive, to create an inner space for. 00:15:33.075 --> 00:15:35.015 So what does it mean to hear God? 00:15:35.875 --> 00:15:38.295 It means to create a space for God. 00:15:39.155 --> 00:15:41.095 How do you create a space for God? 00:15:42.435 --> 00:15:50.040 Well, within traditional Catholic spirituality, we've often heard of silence, interior silence. 00:15:53.060 --> 00:16:04.455 The great searchers for God in the history of the church, the monastic communities, not only the monastic communities. 00:16:04.515 --> 00:16:11.015 You know, what the monastic communities do is a rule of life in their vocation. 00:16:11.795 --> 00:16:18.250 We're all called to do as a virtue according to our own specific calling in life. 00:16:19.030 --> 00:16:31.815 So the monks used to have this thing called grand silence that they would create moments during the day in which they would not speak. 00:16:33.315 --> 00:16:42.215 And that not speak was a precondition to creating a place of silence in their soul where the noise cannot enter. 00:16:43.590 --> 00:16:52.010 And the term interior silence, often today, we hear of a type of fasting from the media. 00:16:52.230 --> 00:16:55.130 That's a type of silence, of interior silence. 00:16:55.190 --> 00:16:55.690 Why? 00:16:58.275 --> 00:17:03.655 What we receive and what we create an inner space for, we become pregnant with. 00:17:04.275 --> 00:17:06.935 Excuse the image, but it is in the Psalms. 00:17:07.795 --> 00:17:14.690 The evil man, according to the Psalms, conceives evil and brings forth lies. 00:17:15.710 --> 00:17:22.370 So what we allow to come in tends to gestate in us, and we tend to give birth to it. 00:17:23.790 --> 00:17:26.770 So what does it mean to take care of what we hear? 00:17:28.265 --> 00:17:29.785 What are we allowing to become? 00:17:29.785 --> 00:17:31.485 And again, excuse the image. 00:17:32.585 --> 00:17:34.685 What are we taking into our spirit? 00:17:35.225 --> 00:17:43.005 What are we allowing to grow there if we wanna use the image of, of the seed and the way Jesus speaks about? 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:45.860 What type of fruit will it bear? 00:17:47.040 --> 00:17:54.820 So to take care of what you hear, take care be be aware of what we're taking in, what we're receiving, what we're creating in our space for. 00:17:56.115 --> 00:18:06.055 What are what is what are the noise noises of my own thoughts, my own interpretations, my own kind of ways of seeing things, and what comes from God? 00:18:07.475 --> 00:18:10.600 This is where discernment is important. 00:18:10.600 --> 00:18:12.140 And what do we mean by discernment? 00:18:12.280 --> 00:18:19.740 To distinguish, to discriminate in the language, the etymological language. 00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:31.285 And in this sense, discernment is not so much a decision making algorithm as it is an awareness of what's coming in, an awareness of where it's coming from. 00:18:33.265 --> 00:18:40.325 So this take care of what you hear means, what are we opening ourselves up to to influence us? 00:18:42.100 --> 00:18:48.820 And what does it mean in our life to allow ourselves to be deeply influenced by the word of God? 00:18:48.820 --> 00:18:50.600 Wouldn't that be something so great? 00:18:50.660 --> 00:18:52.900 What's the number one influence in my life? 00:18:52.900 --> 00:18:53.800 It's my god. 00:18:54.345 --> 00:18:57.165 It's the holy spirit stirring in my heart and soul. 00:18:59.225 --> 00:19:06.045 So take care of what you hear, beware of what you allow to come into you, take root in you, and to grow. 00:19:06.980 --> 00:19:10.920 And what are the fruits of what would I allow to grow in me? 00:19:13.300 --> 00:19:19.080 In many ways, to take care of what we hear remember the Latin word obedience? 00:19:20.215 --> 00:19:22.155 You know where it comes from etymologically? 00:19:22.855 --> 00:19:27.355 Ab audide, and what's the word audide in Latin is to hear. 00:19:28.455 --> 00:19:35.115 So obedience, we become obedient, ipso facto, by what we hear or to what we listen to. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:50.635 So if in many ways, popular news, popular culture, popular interpretation of things, you know, the political back and forth, this is what we're constantly hearing and listening to and taking in. 00:19:50.635 --> 00:19:52.495 We become obedient to that. 00:19:53.035 --> 00:19:56.975 Our framework of seeing the world, we become obedient to that. 00:19:57.675 --> 00:20:03.200 For constantly listening to the word of God and prayer and through events. 00:20:03.420 --> 00:20:03.740 Right? 00:20:03.740 --> 00:20:08.400 We do look at the media, but there's a discerning of how I take it in. 00:20:10.060 --> 00:20:15.665 What does it mean that my life becomes obedient to the word of God and the truth? 00:20:15.805 --> 00:20:18.625 You know, those who hear the truth will be set free. 00:20:20.205 --> 00:20:24.865 Do I find myself being constricted in my freedom? 00:20:25.885 --> 00:20:27.325 What am I listening to? 00:20:27.325 --> 00:20:28.785 How do I frame questions? 00:20:29.250 --> 00:20:31.670 How do I look at situations in life? 00:20:32.450 --> 00:20:42.950 Do I frame difficulties within a language scheme that I get from listening to the world or worse to the evil one? 00:20:44.175 --> 00:20:51.235 Or are my reference points of how I see myself, my own identity, and other things from the narrative of God? 00:20:51.375 --> 00:20:57.155 And to hear his word, to obey his word, brings me to freedom. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:04.180 So Jesus very beautifully tells us, take care of what you hear, take care of what you allow to come in. 00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:15.675 It's beautiful here, one thing that strikes me about this image, it looks like those who are in this inner circle of disciples are the apostles. 00:21:16.855 --> 00:21:23.035 The ones who are closest to listening are the ones who become the best apostles. 00:21:24.695 --> 00:21:28.200 We will be sent by what we hear. 00:21:28.420 --> 00:21:32.600 We will become apostles, messengers of what we hear. 00:21:34.100 --> 00:21:40.440 This is why the disciple who sits at the feet of the Lord will become an apostle of what he or she hears. 00:21:41.605 --> 00:21:48.585 If we're listening to the the discourses of the world and other things, you will become we will become an apostle of that. 00:21:50.165 --> 00:21:52.645 And so here, what does it mean to be close to Jesus? 00:21:52.645 --> 00:21:58.360 And not kind of the fellows on the outside, just kinda constantly checking them out, being a little bit guarded. 00:22:01.460 --> 00:22:02.920 So what are we hearing? 00:22:04.500 --> 00:22:05.620 What are we taking in? 00:22:05.620 --> 00:22:06.600 What are we receiving? 00:22:06.660 --> 00:22:10.625 What are we creating space for in in our life? 00:22:11.085 --> 00:22:15.585 Perhaps a very, a very telling question there. 00:22:21.500 --> 00:22:26.160 I don't know if we may call this a theology of of the word or theology of communication. 00:22:28.620 --> 00:22:34.000 When we open ourselves up to hearing, what do we hear? 00:22:36.245 --> 00:22:36.745 Sounds? 00:22:37.845 --> 00:22:44.585 We certainly hear sounds, but we're also aware of being able to hear without airwaves. 00:22:46.405 --> 00:22:47.145 A message? 00:22:49.330 --> 00:22:49.570 Yeah. 00:22:49.570 --> 00:22:50.390 A message? 00:22:51.010 --> 00:22:54.550 So perhaps it can be spoken in many different ways. 00:22:55.490 --> 00:22:57.570 Can we read the message through events? 00:22:57.570 --> 00:22:58.950 Can we hear events? 00:22:59.090 --> 00:23:01.415 Can we hear situations? 00:23:02.515 --> 00:23:04.935 Can we isn't this what discernment is? 00:23:05.315 --> 00:23:17.600 Learning to piece together the characters, that life presents to me into a the message that comes from the living God. 00:23:18.380 --> 00:23:22.000 Maybe this is in a certain sense what discernment and prophecy are about. 00:23:23.100 --> 00:23:24.400 So we hear a message. 00:23:27.195 --> 00:23:30.415 In the end, maybe we're hearing a person who communicates himself. 00:23:31.275 --> 00:23:34.815 Maybe the word is actually communication of a person. 00:23:34.875 --> 00:23:39.375 And so when receiving a person's words, we're actually receiving our person. 00:23:41.020 --> 00:23:43.680 And can words come from various depths? 00:23:44.540 --> 00:23:52.000 Maybe there are words which come superficially and, you know, the person communicates themselves superficially, conventionally. 00:23:52.060 --> 00:23:52.860 How are you doing today? 00:23:52.860 --> 00:23:52.940 Yeah. 00:23:52.940 --> 00:23:53.840 I'm doing alright. 00:23:53.975 --> 00:23:58.715 You know, a conventional communication, and there's not much person there to receive. 00:23:59.495 --> 00:24:02.795 But if the person is deeper, how are you doing today? 00:24:02.935 --> 00:24:04.155 Well, let me tell you. 00:24:04.855 --> 00:24:08.880 I'm going to make myself vulnerable and tell you what's in the depth of my heart. 00:24:09.280 --> 00:24:09.520 Wow. 00:24:09.520 --> 00:24:11.780 You're receiving a depth of person there. 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:14.180 So where is the word coming from? 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:18.740 Is the word coming from up here, from here, from deep within? 00:24:19.360 --> 00:24:21.460 How much of the person is being communicated? 00:24:22.845 --> 00:24:28.865 When God communicates, he communicates from his very core, from his heart, his totality in Christ. 00:24:32.525 --> 00:24:35.665 Here, obviously, we do have something about listening to God. 00:24:36.690 --> 00:24:41.990 In this image, you see kind of a dialogue, what looks like to be a Pharisee, one of the Pharisees with Jesus. 00:24:44.050 --> 00:24:51.590 If we were to read maybe the body language of the Pharisee, to me, maybe not a great reader of body language, but he seems to be open. 00:24:52.265 --> 00:24:53.465 He's engaged in our Lord. 00:24:53.465 --> 00:24:54.925 He's authentically questioning. 00:24:56.825 --> 00:25:06.650 And Jesus was beautiful to see how in his dealing with the Pharisees too, even at times when he had to be very strong, he communicates what's deep in his heart. 00:25:07.510 --> 00:25:17.290 And a number of them, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, and others, and, eventually, in the acts of the apostles, it says that a large number of priests were added to the company of believers. 00:25:18.305 --> 00:25:22.805 So Jesus has a way of always giving us from his very depth. 00:25:29.345 --> 00:25:32.165 So what is the ultimate object of hearing? 00:25:34.200 --> 00:25:38.220 Well, we know there's only one word, and it's Christ Jesus. 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:43.980 And every other word that's meaningful captures a piece of Christ. 00:25:46.055 --> 00:26:07.610 And Genesis one twenty six, when God spoke the word of dialogue, let us make man in our image, man and woman in our own image, in our likeness, the trinitarian dialogue is that which became the this the seedbed of the being of the human person. 00:26:07.610 --> 00:26:15.355 We are a a and we in our very being, in our very identity are a word of the Father to the Son, the Son to the Father. 00:26:16.295 --> 00:26:18.235 Let us make man in our own image. 00:26:19.015 --> 00:26:26.315 And Christ came to us, remain in me as I remain in you, to be united with Christ is to receive the word. 00:26:27.990 --> 00:26:34.490 Isn't our communication and charity, communication of Christ, the eternal Word himself? 00:26:39.750 --> 00:26:42.010 There's obviously a lot to ponder here. 00:26:43.855 --> 00:26:52.515 Let's kinda make a transition here because this is where spiritual direction can, speak a lot to us. 00:26:54.095 --> 00:26:54.335 Yeah. 00:26:54.335 --> 00:27:03.690 Maybe before going to spiritual direction, let me just share with you this image, being the birthday of our lady. 00:27:05.510 --> 00:27:09.050 Mary is the listener, the hearer par excellence. 00:27:09.590 --> 00:27:11.610 She is the listening version. 00:27:13.175 --> 00:27:20.055 Here, you see her in the moment in which Fra Angelico pictures her as receiving the eternal word. 00:27:20.055 --> 00:27:23.275 Do you notice that ray that comes from heaven? 00:27:24.910 --> 00:27:25.870 With the holy spirit. 00:27:25.870 --> 00:27:27.470 May notice the holy spirit here. 00:27:27.470 --> 00:27:38.205 And when Mary is saying, behold, the handmade of the Lord be done unto me according to your word, and the word is literally coming to her that moment. 00:27:38.205 --> 00:27:40.305 She's becoming pregnant with the word. 00:27:41.565 --> 00:27:51.050 Saint Augustine is a very beautiful saying that Mary conceived in her heart before she conceived in her womb because of her listening. 00:27:51.110 --> 00:27:56.970 You notice the book on her lap, Sacred Scripture, she's constantly meditating and listening. 00:27:57.590 --> 00:28:03.455 She's the one who bless, she's blessed because she believed the words spoken to her. 00:28:03.515 --> 00:28:15.375 She is the one who is blessed because she turns over the word, the events in her heart, and she is the one who is blessed because she does not let any one of the words escape her. 00:28:15.870 --> 00:28:17.250 That is the word of God. 00:28:17.630 --> 00:28:25.250 And, you know, that gesture of holding it in, of not letting any part of the experience of God. 00:28:26.110 --> 00:28:33.035 Notice on the far left there, Adam and Eve, they mistrust in the word of God. 00:28:33.035 --> 00:28:34.255 They disobeyed. 00:28:34.875 --> 00:28:36.475 They disawed it. 00:28:36.475 --> 00:28:37.835 They didn't hear the word of God. 00:28:37.835 --> 00:28:39.515 They believed a lie. 00:28:39.515 --> 00:28:46.830 They heard a lie, And that lie became a lie of their identity, a lie of their situation, a lie. 00:28:49.050 --> 00:28:57.085 So Let's speak about spiritual direction. 00:28:59.865 --> 00:29:08.845 Receiving spiritual direction and perhaps giving spiritual direction is director and a directee. 00:29:10.490 --> 00:29:13.450 Spiritual direction, well done and well received, what does it do? 00:29:13.450 --> 00:29:17.070 It helps create and hold the space for God. 00:29:20.730 --> 00:29:24.510 You know, very often we go to spiritual direction, we naturally start. 00:29:26.055 --> 00:29:26.775 What's happening? 00:29:26.775 --> 00:29:27.835 What's going on? 00:29:30.695 --> 00:29:44.130 And, you know, when we allow that to be our starting point and we don't kinda get bogged down or get distracted by the circumstances, but go into the heart of the person. 00:29:46.910 --> 00:29:56.375 Within and by helping the person hear and are hearing the person, are listening, are listening for the deep movements of their spirit. 00:29:56.375 --> 00:30:01.655 We can speak it in terms of emotion, but it's much more than what we typically speak about emotion. 00:30:01.655 --> 00:30:07.595 It's deep spiritual movements, pretty good for a person of faith, hope, and love. 00:30:09.120 --> 00:30:19.860 We're helping them, in a certain sense, create and hold the space for God, where they're going through a very difficult moment maybe, or a very good moment, or a very blah moment. 00:30:21.775 --> 00:30:24.975 What does it mean in our life to kinda hold the space for God? 00:30:24.975 --> 00:30:28.355 Meaning, what is God doing? 00:30:28.895 --> 00:30:37.060 Let's not be quick to give a too human an interpretation or too human a solution or put things in too human a narrative. 00:30:39.520 --> 00:30:44.180 Here in Luke one twenty nine, something very telling. 00:30:45.360 --> 00:30:55.545 When Mary received the word at the annunciation, scripture says she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 00:30:56.805 --> 00:30:58.025 This is very telling. 00:30:59.205 --> 00:31:01.445 What troubles Mary's soul? 00:31:01.445 --> 00:31:06.350 The the Greek word for troubling here is being perturbed, being stirred, being moved. 00:31:07.130 --> 00:31:16.670 You can imagine the soul of Mary in this interior silence that we said, in that her soul is reserved for God and God alone. 00:31:16.810 --> 00:31:18.190 There is this stillness. 00:31:19.785 --> 00:31:20.905 She's not influenced. 00:31:20.905 --> 00:31:24.745 She's not not troubled by the circumstances of life, the things of the world. 00:31:24.745 --> 00:31:35.890 I mean, you know, we're all wrong in some way troubled by them, but there's a place in her soul where there's just this stillness, and it must be preserved in prayer, and we've all experienced this. 00:31:35.890 --> 00:31:36.390 Right? 00:31:36.530 --> 00:31:46.230 When we are able to live at a depth, what the catechism calls the depth of the heart, and that's preserved be it by prayer, by virtue. 00:31:48.585 --> 00:31:53.785 Mary was troubled by what she heard from the angel because she knew that was the word of God. 00:31:53.785 --> 00:31:58.105 What troubles Mary, what stirs Mary is the word of God. 00:31:58.105 --> 00:31:59.805 What's God want here? 00:32:00.580 --> 00:32:02.120 It's not these are the circumstances. 00:32:02.180 --> 00:32:04.760 What is this gonna mean in my relationship with Joseph? 00:32:04.980 --> 00:32:05.640 We'll colorize. 00:32:05.780 --> 00:32:07.160 I didn't expect this. 00:32:07.380 --> 00:32:08.020 I can't no. 00:32:08.020 --> 00:32:08.980 I can't believe it. 00:32:08.980 --> 00:32:10.020 You gotta get me no. 00:32:10.020 --> 00:32:10.100 No. 00:32:10.100 --> 00:32:10.600 No. 00:32:11.860 --> 00:32:18.335 What does it mean in spiritual direction that that's the place we try to go to? 00:32:18.475 --> 00:32:23.915 And what does it mean in spiritual direction, in our own giving or receiving the spiritual direction? 00:32:23.915 --> 00:32:29.950 Would that be the ordinary ambit in which the dialogue unfolds? 00:32:33.130 --> 00:32:34.810 Spiritual direction can help. 00:32:34.810 --> 00:32:40.565 Another way of looking at it can help normalize the background noise, and we can get away from it. 00:32:40.565 --> 00:32:42.985 There's a lot of noise in our life, isn't there? 00:32:43.365 --> 00:32:44.665 Situations, circumstances. 00:32:47.045 --> 00:32:49.065 What happens in one Kings 19? 00:32:50.565 --> 00:32:54.320 You remember the story, Elijah, has a lot of noise. 00:32:54.320 --> 00:33:03.700 He's troubled by Jezebel's threat that she's gonna kill him because of what she did to the what he did to the prophets of Baal, and he's afraid. 00:33:03.760 --> 00:33:10.335 He has all of this noise going on, so he goes into the desert, very beautiful, and God sends him on a forty days walk. 00:33:11.115 --> 00:33:13.215 You have to kinda get away from that noise. 00:33:13.755 --> 00:33:23.310 And then he goes to the mountain, and the word of the Lord comes to him and says, go and stand at the foot of at the entrance of the cave. 00:33:23.310 --> 00:33:31.890 The Lord will be passing by, and there was a violent wind, an earthquake, and crush, and and, and fire. 00:33:33.390 --> 00:33:40.995 Three manifestations of Yahweh in the Old Testament, yet God was not in them this time. 00:33:43.055 --> 00:33:44.195 What does this mean? 00:33:45.135 --> 00:33:50.035 We constantly have to keep listening to how our Lord speaks to us. 00:33:51.140 --> 00:33:54.440 We can't fully identify our lord with one experience. 00:33:56.660 --> 00:33:59.160 You know, wasn't the lord in that experience of consolation? 00:33:59.380 --> 00:34:00.520 Of course, he was. 00:34:01.220 --> 00:34:01.860 Because what? 00:34:01.860 --> 00:34:03.240 He continues to speak. 00:34:03.495 --> 00:34:05.355 Now he's using the language of dryness. 00:34:06.055 --> 00:34:07.355 Before, it was a fire. 00:34:07.895 --> 00:34:09.755 Remember the burning bush of Moses? 00:34:10.215 --> 00:34:11.355 Then it was an earthquake. 00:34:11.735 --> 00:34:14.955 Remember the theophany of Horeb and the 10 commandments? 00:34:15.495 --> 00:34:17.035 Then it was a fire. 00:34:17.210 --> 00:34:21.870 Remember Elijah, you know, when the fire came down on the sacrifice, but now it's none of those. 00:34:22.490 --> 00:34:24.030 What is God speaking now? 00:34:25.050 --> 00:34:35.205 This is important in spiritual direction so that we don't interpret God through our own experience of God, but we keep listening in the present to the lord god. 00:34:35.205 --> 00:34:36.105 This is important. 00:34:37.605 --> 00:34:43.945 We don't wanna be locked into a particular, but give God the freedom. 00:34:44.330 --> 00:34:46.910 Be detached even from our own spiritual experience. 00:34:47.290 --> 00:34:49.050 This is what spiritual direction does. 00:34:49.050 --> 00:34:55.070 So spiritual direction not only brings us deep, but what does it not what does it mean to be in the here and now? 00:34:56.330 --> 00:35:02.675 To hear, h e a r, hear, h e r e, and now. 00:35:04.415 --> 00:35:05.715 The language of God. 00:35:05.855 --> 00:35:07.795 It's our Lord telling me now. 00:35:08.815 --> 00:35:10.815 This is where the sermon really comes in. 00:35:10.815 --> 00:35:17.580 And spiritual direction is very important for this because very often, we may wanna superimpose our own meaning. 00:35:17.800 --> 00:35:23.880 And learning to help a direct the kind of goal to this deep place, you know, what's the lord doing? 00:35:23.880 --> 00:35:28.460 And, you know, this is not gonna happen maybe one session, but over a period of time. 00:35:31.235 --> 00:35:33.575 And what does also spiritual direction do? 00:35:34.115 --> 00:35:37.175 It makes us hungry for the word of God. 00:35:37.475 --> 00:35:38.375 How's this? 00:35:38.995 --> 00:35:52.670 In Amos eight eleven, it says, see that these are coming oracle of the Lord God, when I will send a famine upon the land, not a hunger for bread or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of God. 00:35:52.970 --> 00:35:58.635 Isn't God constantly working in our life to make us hungry and thirsty for him? 00:35:58.795 --> 00:36:07.535 Deuteronomy eight, Moses reminds the people, remember how the Lord made you to feel hunger so that afterwards, he could feed you with the manna. 00:36:09.915 --> 00:36:13.455 Do we get an anticipation of that taking place in our soul? 00:36:15.090 --> 00:36:24.210 So we could kinda see between the lines here how spiritual direction is much more than advice giving. 00:36:24.210 --> 00:36:26.390 It's much more than pastoral counseling. 00:36:26.530 --> 00:36:30.705 It's much more than let me just give you a few counsels of how to get through these problems. 00:36:31.805 --> 00:36:33.745 It has to be much more than that. 00:36:36.605 --> 00:36:44.110 And in many ways, at times, we have to ignore the words to hear the person. 00:36:44.890 --> 00:36:58.655 At times, a person may kinda be stuck just in one way of seeing, of, I don't know, of maybe viewing, of imposing a certain narrative. 00:36:58.655 --> 00:36:59.215 You know? 00:36:59.215 --> 00:37:03.455 If I could just get my husband or my wife or if we could just get over this problem. 00:37:03.455 --> 00:37:05.795 Let's just kinda sit with it. 00:37:06.255 --> 00:37:06.735 Yeah. 00:37:06.735 --> 00:37:13.030 It might be important to take steps, and maybe we can refer you for pastoral counseling, but just kinda sit with us in the moment. 00:37:14.050 --> 00:37:19.030 This requires a lot of detachment for the director and the directee. 00:37:20.050 --> 00:37:25.505 Attachment because I don't know what our lord wants. 00:37:25.505 --> 00:37:26.145 I don't know. 00:37:26.145 --> 00:37:27.525 I don't I I can't pretend. 00:37:27.745 --> 00:37:28.065 Yeah. 00:37:28.065 --> 00:37:29.285 This is a tough situation. 00:37:29.905 --> 00:37:31.845 This is a tough experience of loss. 00:37:32.545 --> 00:37:34.710 But I'm not gonna try to give you a Band Aid. 00:37:34.870 --> 00:37:43.850 I'm not gonna try to give you, I don't know, just some cheap onions and leeks from Egypt to satisfy your your hunger. 00:37:44.710 --> 00:37:46.490 Let's listen for the word of God. 00:37:48.085 --> 00:37:53.145 And this is where holding and creating the space can be, can be very, very important. 00:37:56.485 --> 00:37:58.265 Just gonna kind of pause there. 00:37:59.780 --> 00:38:04.360 I mean, obviously, there's so much more there that we can can we we can go into. 00:38:05.700 --> 00:38:08.980 What we said, we've applied it to spiritual direction. 00:38:08.980 --> 00:38:12.680 You can see it between the lines that applies to the spiritual life generally. 00:38:13.735 --> 00:38:21.115 It also applies to the spiritual exercises, which is a particular living of the spiritual life and particular living. 00:38:22.455 --> 00:38:33.190 You know, and in some way, it is what the rules of the sermon of saint Ignatius the fourteen first and the eight and the eight second set of rules. 00:38:33.810 --> 00:38:54.865 It's, in many ways, with John of the cross speak about even in terms of detachment, creating space for the Lord, of being aware, not only being attached to bad things, which generally as we progress in spiritual life, that's not gonna be an issue because, yeah, our conscience will will will bring bring blink pretty brightly about those things. 00:38:54.865 --> 00:39:01.660 But very often, it's an attachment to good things, but which are not what God particularly wills at that moment. 00:39:04.120 --> 00:39:06.280 Are you called to be spiritual director? 00:39:06.280 --> 00:39:19.435 On one hand, it can sound very it could be very, very daunting, but to be a spiritual director actually means maybe becoming less rather than more, of doing less, to be able to do more. 00:39:20.135 --> 00:39:26.720 Do you have the desire to help people keep close to God through the ups and downs and ins and right outs of life? 00:39:27.740 --> 00:39:33.600 Are you moved to company others on their ongoing pilgrimage to the living God? 00:39:35.195 --> 00:39:42.175 Are you inspired when you discover the unshakable fidelity and closeness of God as he shares our joys and solos, hopes, and fears? 00:39:43.915 --> 00:39:52.310 And would you like to equip yourself with the spiritual tradition, skills, and virtues and coach to experience to serve others as a spiritual director. 00:39:53.330 --> 00:40:04.390 Let me just kinda state this for those, maybe on the webinar, who of you who are not too familiar with the spiritual direction certificate program. 00:40:04.735 --> 00:40:18.335 It's a program of Divine Mercy University, which began in 1999 as an institute offering clinical psychology degrees deeply imbued with a Catholic Christian view of the human person. 00:40:18.335 --> 00:40:34.870 So some of the very beginning, the Institute for the Psychological Sciences, then Divine Mercy University has always been engaged in this this work of integration, which is the work the church has always been doing, faith and reason, science and faith. 00:40:37.935 --> 00:40:43.535 And through various programs, and various online programs as well too. 00:40:43.535 --> 00:40:47.135 In 2014, we launched our very first online program. 00:40:47.135 --> 00:40:59.070 In 2015, we added a school of counseling, to offer counseling degrees, similar but different from psychology, hence, Divine Mercy University came into being. 00:41:00.490 --> 00:41:04.695 And couple years ago, we launched the spiritual direction certificate program. 00:41:04.695 --> 00:41:07.035 What are some of the characteristics of this program? 00:41:07.495 --> 00:41:18.475 This program integrates, as you would expect, the classic tradition of Catholics spiritual theology, which is very deep, very nuanced. 00:41:21.150 --> 00:41:33.490 It integrates that together with an awareness of what tradition has said is spiritual direction, how it's been practiced, also because grace builds on nature and forms nature. 00:41:33.965 --> 00:41:35.725 What does that nature look like? 00:41:35.725 --> 00:41:53.570 And here's where, maybe one of the strengths of the program being at the Divine Mercy University, we actually ask the human sciences to give us language and tools to understand that nature, that and what is it like for human development? 00:41:53.570 --> 00:41:57.890 What is it like for a person to grow in their relationship with God? 00:41:57.890 --> 00:42:00.790 What is the development of human relationships look like? 00:42:01.490 --> 00:42:02.950 And then how to listen? 00:42:03.715 --> 00:42:05.415 Can there be a science of listening? 00:42:06.435 --> 00:42:11.015 And can the science of listening become a vehicle for theological listening? 00:42:11.155 --> 00:42:13.175 This is what we try to do in the program. 00:42:15.315 --> 00:42:20.660 And how do we kinda put it all together so that each one can kinda develop its style? 00:42:21.040 --> 00:42:32.605 One thing about this program, it follows a meta model approach, meaning, we don't teach just a specifically Ignatian model or a Carmelite model. 00:42:33.225 --> 00:42:53.530 We teach a model which goes back to the principles of anthropology, which can which underpin all of the models So that the particular spiritualities of the individual students and kind of maybe the ambit in which they'll be practicing spiritual direction, can kinda take form. 00:42:54.165 --> 00:43:02.505 So that's one of the beauties also of kind of this intellectual and spiritual undergirding, that Divine Mercy University provides. 00:43:03.605 --> 00:43:06.505 If you wanna know more about the program, there's our website. 00:43:07.470 --> 00:43:12.210 Our next start, our next cohort starts in January. 00:43:13.550 --> 00:43:19.730 The program comprises six courses, which which are offered three times a year. 00:43:20.750 --> 00:43:28.485 So each of those courses, is offered each one of them, each one of the terms we offer we offer all of the courses. 00:43:28.485 --> 00:43:31.465 So each one of the terms, students can start. 00:43:31.765 --> 00:43:40.070 And then if they take the classes sequentially one right after another, you could finish the certificate, in in two years. 00:43:40.530 --> 00:43:56.165 The certificate is a nondegree program, meaning it's, it's not intended to have the load, the heavier load of a degree program, yet it's, it's, it's rigorous, attending as you would expect and would hope. 00:43:57.425 --> 00:44:12.540 And yet at the same time, it tries to be, realistic just in terms of the actual load, and and all of the work is really geared towards helping acquire the very practical skills and know how that a spiritual director, will need. 00:44:15.080 --> 00:44:16.220 I'll stop here. 00:44:16.600 --> 00:44:28.575 We have an opportunity for some questions, which you might be able to send to me via chat, or you can also, email them to me. 00:44:28.575 --> 00:44:33.395 I'll send I'm sending you the email via the chat. 00:44:33.775 --> 00:44:37.150 I'm also sharing with you, the website. 00:44:37.150 --> 00:44:47.490 You saw the website in, their flash across the screen, but I'll send you a a link here, which is a we can just kinda click and go go to. 00:44:50.295 --> 00:44:56.295 So question, how do we practice this listening in spiritual direction? 00:44:56.295 --> 00:44:58.155 I mean, kind of a very good question. 00:44:58.615 --> 00:45:00.055 On the one hand, it's very simple. 00:45:00.055 --> 00:45:05.915 On the other hand, it's it's, how we get there might might require a little bit of of of work. 00:45:08.190 --> 00:45:25.925 Maybe begins with an awareness that in the life of your directee, this person in front of you, there's an incredible dialogue taking place between god and that soul, and it's taking place in the depth of that person's heart. 00:45:27.585 --> 00:45:30.085 That person may be more or less engaged in it. 00:45:30.305 --> 00:45:32.725 They may be more or less distracted from it. 00:45:33.265 --> 00:45:47.600 But our awareness that that's what's taking place, and our hearing into the person is what allows us to accompany the person to those deep places. 00:45:49.515 --> 00:46:01.195 And this is where, in many ways, we're teaching them without teaching them how to pray without teaching them how to pray simply by the way we conduct spiritual direction. 00:46:01.195 --> 00:46:12.740 And it's an interesting that we can directees will often pray the way, they do spiritual direction. 00:46:12.800 --> 00:46:20.435 If you receive spiritual direction in the problems solving sort of way, you might pray in a problem sort of way. 00:46:20.435 --> 00:46:22.195 You know, bring in the lord my petitions. 00:46:22.195 --> 00:46:23.815 Lord, this is what I'm going through. 00:46:23.955 --> 00:46:27.015 Please help this situation to change, which is good. 00:46:28.355 --> 00:46:31.255 But together with that is, lord, here I am in this situation. 00:46:31.555 --> 00:46:32.455 Give me patience. 00:46:33.500 --> 00:46:34.620 And what are you asking of me? 00:46:34.620 --> 00:46:36.060 What are your words to me? 00:46:36.060 --> 00:46:37.120 What is your purpose? 00:46:37.180 --> 00:46:39.840 What are you seeking to do in my soul? 00:46:41.180 --> 00:46:45.360 So I don't know if that's much of an answer, but maybe it's pointing you to it. 00:46:46.195 --> 00:46:47.255 A question here. 00:46:47.715 --> 00:46:48.515 Thank you, Emily. 00:46:48.515 --> 00:46:52.135 How old should someone be to start the spiritual direction program? 00:46:55.555 --> 00:46:56.595 It's a good question. 00:46:56.595 --> 00:47:03.390 There's not a hard kind of age. 00:47:04.170 --> 00:47:06.350 It would be one of sufficient maturity. 00:47:07.050 --> 00:47:12.990 Generally, we would say maybe about 30 years old or if somebody starts to program when they're younger. 00:47:14.545 --> 00:47:29.490 Though we would encourage if somebody's in their twenties and has had some experience, in spiritual direction, particularly if you've been in spiritual direction, you've been on a spiritual journey, feel free to apply, and we'll kind of end the discernment with you. 00:47:30.110 --> 00:47:31.390 Maybe maybe see. 00:47:31.390 --> 00:47:38.030 When we have we do have a number of students that are in their upper twenties, kinda going through the program and already. 00:47:38.030 --> 00:47:40.335 So But that's kind of a rule of thumb. 00:47:40.335 --> 00:47:51.535 So, you know, somebody who's, who's kind of on a track record of already of of spiritual life and spiritual, spiritual growth. 00:47:51.535 --> 00:47:54.435 So I'm hoping that that answers the question there, Emily. 00:47:56.840 --> 00:47:57.080 Great. 00:47:57.080 --> 00:48:04.460 Well, I wanna thank you all for being great listeners, and for, yeah, for being here. 00:48:05.720 --> 00:48:06.920 Let's end with a prayer. 00:48:06.920 --> 00:48:15.425 Feel free to email me afterwards, with any questions or any thoughts, any concerns, any any follow-up you may wish to have. 00:48:15.425 --> 00:48:19.605 In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, amen. 00:48:25.520 --> 00:48:37.595 Lord, we thank you for your abundant goodness in this day of giving us the gift of the birth of our lady, the dawn of salvation of Christ our lord. 00:48:39.095 --> 00:48:51.230 May we have always in our own hearts a deep devotion to her, and that she might help create in our hearts a deep space for her son. 00:48:53.370 --> 00:49:01.770 Glory be to the father, and to the son, and to the holy spirit as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. 00:49:01.770 --> 00:49:02.270 Amen. 00:49:02.853 --> 00:49:05.593 In the name of the father, and the son, and the holy spirit. 00:49:07.253 --> 00:49:08.313 God bless you. 00:49:08.373 --> 00:49:09.833 Thank you for joining us.