Welcome to our daily rosary meditation. This is the next in our series of walking through the Old Testament for Lent. Let's begin in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let's call to mind all those we promised to pray for. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, as now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Our first meditation. When we think about Moses freeing the Israelites, we often think about a great social liberator, someone like Gandhi or Braveheart, who fights to gain freedom for his people from an unjust oppressor. And that's certainly true on one level. The Egyptians did horribly mistreat the Israelites, and God did save his people from that unjust oppression. but freedom doesn't exist for the sake of freedom and God didn't liberate his people just so that they could be liberated from the Egyptians he didn't set them free just so that they could do whatever they wanted God freed his people so they could be free to worship him to love him and to serve him because at the end of the day, that's the only freedom worth having because that's the only freedom that gives life. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary mother of God Amen Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary mother of God pray for us here ins the number ofós Amen Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary mother of God pray for us in our hands now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our hands now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our hands now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was, the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. O my Jesus. Forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy. Our second meditation. When God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush and gave him the mission of freeing the children of Israel, he was very clear that this was so that they might worship him. He said, I will be with you, and this will be your sign that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. And initially, when Moses has his first audience with the Pharaoh, Moses doesn't demand that the Israelites be set free forever. all he asks is for enough time for the people to make a retreat and go worship God together. Moses said to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Let my people go that they may hold a feast for me in the wilderness. The God of the Hebrews has come to meet us. Let us go a three days journey into the wilderness that we may offer sacrifice to the Lord our God. Moses doesn't start by saying, my people need political freedom. My people need democracy. My people need fair working conditions. My people need elected representation. My people need an autonomous system of government. No. He says, God wants his people to worship him with sacrifice and feasting. And you have to let them go do that. Of course eventually God will grant the Israelites complete political liberation from the Egyptians primarily because Pharaoh was too obstinate to let them go worship But the point is God does want his people to be free but God wants their freedom so that they will be free to worship, serve, and love him. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, and her uns' 46dani, at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, and her uns'甚, at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, and her uns' depuis Amen. Amen. God Almighty. pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, as now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy. Our third meditation. Starting with America, religious freedom has become something deeply valued by democratic nations in many parts of the world, especially the West. And the Catholic Church celebrates religious liberty. We are made to know and love God, and neither conviction nor love are things that can be forced on people. religious freedom is the most basic freedom there is now we need governments to give people the space and time to find the truth and once they've found it to do their best to live up to it but here's the thing religious liberty exists for the sake of religious practice freedom is for the sake of worship which means if we have freedom to practice our faith but we don't practice it then we're totally missing the point Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be your name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us then lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil Amen Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us in hercause. Now and at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us in her since now. And at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us in her since now. And at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our hands now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, as now and never shall be, world without end. Amen. O my Jesus. Forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy. Our fourth meditation. As we said, freedom is about giving people the space to find God and serve him. That's the freedom God wanted to give his chosen people. He wanted Pharaoh to give them the space to go out into the desert and worship God with a feast and sacrifice. Just as he wants us to come together and worship God in the Mass, which is the supreme feast and the supreme sacrifice. The problem is that people so easily use freedom, including religious freedom, as an excuse to become self-serving. to do whatever we want. That's not what the right to religious freedom is. As the Catechism says, the right to religious freedom is neither a moral license to adhere to error nor a supposed right to error In other words, religious freedom isn't an excuse to avoid the truth. It's an opportunity for following the truth. So, is that how we're using our freedom? After all, look at how much freedom we have. look at the free time we have the disposable income we have the way we're allowed to go to mass and live as Christ teaches but are we doing it? are we making the most of our religious freedom? or has God freed us in vain? our Father who art in heaven hallowed be your name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with The Lord is with Thee. Blessed are Thee among women. Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, The Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thee among women. Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, The Lord is with Thee. Blessed are Thee among women. Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now in the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now in the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in erst now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in Untie naw and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us inής now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our hands now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, as now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. O my Jesus. Forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy. Our fifth meditation. The freedom God granted to the chosen people was supposed to be used for his worship, his honor. When they followed Moses into the desert, they had to decide whether they would use their new freedom to worship God or themselves simply by doing their own thing. Now during Lent, we face the same choice. after all we have so many things where we are free to decide what we want to do with them what will what will we do with our political and religious freedom what will we do with our finances what will we do with our homes will we open up our homes as real places of friendship and hospitality what will we do with our free time? Will we use it for friendship with Jesus in prayer and good conversation with our loved ones? Or will we blow it on screens? And what will we do with our words? And what do we consistently choose when we have a choice? God, others or is it comfort or distraction or myself? Are we actually using these things to glorify God and grow in relationship with Him and in virtue? If not, then we're really missing the point of why we've been granted freedom in the first place. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Hail Mary, holy Mary, holy Mary. І О en hå潮 draw %, McLĕ� mãи, holy Mary, holy Mary. O en hå潮 draw %, tay aye both by цару law. Schtafall tick. día тару care i designers, contradictorymarked our fav Fal behavior. The Lord is with thee. Царствоstoff Waterfalls дали им faut pamphronバイ rien. rejected is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and earn us now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and earn us now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and earn us now and at Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen Holy Mary mother of God pray for us in our ins now and at the hour of our death Amen Blessed art thou among women Blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Amen. He be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, as now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy. Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. What struck you with that meditation, Teresa? I was thinking about how we kind of know things by their absence. And it's harder, I think, in our great place of we we have everything we're so free it's harder to know what to do with that kind of freedom to do the things that we have or to appreciate it yep but it's funny because you look back on the israelites and they were constantly in a state of losing those things and then getting them back and then losing their gratitude for them as well and i think that's something to learn from here but absolutely i liked those questions of now then what am i going to use my freedom for let's let's take a very practical one for you because you just bought a house that's exactly what I was thinking about because it's I just bought a house but I'm not in that house yet so right now I'm in the place of gratitude without the having because I'm like constantly processing all the things I could do if I had that house but now I have to keep very very vigilant to not get into that house and then just take it for granted to then because I keep talking about being able to host and being able to do these things on Sundays and being able to walk everywhere. But it's so easy to then get in there and shut up the doors and never go anywhere or never really host or take care of others and be charitable with it. Yeah. So I have two questions. I'm not even sure how to frame them i'll i'll posit them as something i observe that we in our culture for some reason people are hesitant to come over to other people's houses for meals and people are reticent to host meals. And from the moment that God created humanity, inviting somebody into their home and sharing a meal with somebody was one of the most important ways of friendship. In fact, I was just reading this book on King Richard the Lionhearted. And... Oh, that's why they made him a lion in the animated movie. Exactly. But during the crusade, he had a pretty good relationship with the Muslim King Saladin. But Saladin would never invite Richard to a meal because Saladin said, if I invite him to a meal, then we're friends and I can't fight him. Meals foster friendship. Meals in a home especially foster friendship. It's interesting how we're much more likely to go out for dinner with people than host them at home. Which is not as intimate and it doesn't it doesn't convey. It kind of says I'm going to hold you in a box. Exactly. It says I want to meet you on neutral ground quite literally. I want to show that I'm willing to spend time with you but we'll probably pay for our own meals separately and someone else is going to do the dishes and do all the cooking and we both will know that we don't owe each other anything. Keeping the friendship at bay. Because there is something, there's innately a bit on the line or a bit more offered explicitly when you host people. There's more intimacy, it's more vulnerable, but it's also just acts of service. And I think we don't receive acts of service as well. Well, what's on the line, what you're offering is friendship. but we're made for friendship there's also it's kind of sad because restaurants don't that first of all they close but they also don't allow for the natural unfolding of an evening i think it's so beautiful when you you have people over and they're kind of there while you're finishing up cooking and you move from room to room and then you if you have a formal dining room you sit down in your dining room and then can we move to the living room and things can just naturally progress into conversation and different conversation, even prayer. And that can't happen within a restaurant. It can't happen within kind of these places that have tight social rules. Exactly. I love gathering people in the kitchen, especially around an island. Your new house has got a great island. And then because you're getting ready for the meal, then you have the meal in the dining room. Like you said, then you can move to the living room and you can even, as you move to the living room, especially if you have a nice image of our lady in your living room, you can even say, Hey, I pray the rosary every night before you go. Uh, I mean, I understand if you need to go now or if, if, if, yeah, but if you want, you could pray the rosary with me before you leave yeah what a beautiful night but again there's that that danger of i get too excited about something and now i just got to put it into practice while you actually have the freedom i think you will because yeah i don't think you'll let me get away with having talked such a big game about it. Well, considering I've hosted every Sunday and most holidays and usually one other day a week. I owe you. I'm going to start, we're going to start hosting some of those at your place. I agree. I'd love that. Especially because you live exactly a one minute walk from my house. must be apostles of friendship good conversation and the rosary share this with others
