What Do Your Idols Look Like?

Welcome to our daily rosary meditation. 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've 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 he's 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. Most of us have heard of the ten plagues of Egypt, the plagues God inflicted so that Pharaoh would finally set the Israelites free. These plagues are sensational, astounding. The Nile River turning to blood, three days of total darkness, the death of all the firstborn sons. The first point of these plagues was practical. They were inflicted to convince Pharaoh to give the Israelites their freedom. And since Pharaoh insisted on keeping the Israelites in slavery, the severity of the plagues kept escalating. But there was another purpose to the plagues as well. The plagues symbolized something important. They signified God's supremacy over the false gods of Egypt. And that matters. not only to the Israelites and the Egyptians, it matters also to us. The 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. 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 n Os現在 and at the hour of our death. Amen. He will 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 n Os now and at the hour of our death. Amen.ny kwent and whoops И whom He says 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 уин多إ Att does not have 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, Mother of God, pray for us and у is now 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 у is now 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 second meditation. In Exodus 12, just as God is preparing to implement the final plague against the Egyptians, he says, thus will I render judgment on all the gods of Egypt. How is that? The ten plagues obviously show that God is mightier than Pharaoh, and the Pharaoh will only bring about his own destruction by opposing the Lord. But the plagues also show that God is mightier than the false gods of Egypt. The Egyptians, like basically everyone else in the world, worshipped things of nature and things they had made themselves. That's one of the reasons God has to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, because Israel had adopted those same idols. Israel had become addicted to the same idols as the Egyptians. Ezekiel later tells us none of them cast away the idols of Egypt, and that's why they turned to idolatry again and again. But since the Egyptians won't allow the Israelites to leave, God has to expose the falsity and the weakness of the Egyptian idols. So, for example, the Egyptians worship the Nile River as a god, and to show everyone the Nile River is not a god, the real god turned the Nile into blood, symbolically putting it to death. The Egyptians worshipped the sun and to show everyone the sun was not a god, the real god turned the lights out for three days. The Egyptians worshipped Pharaoh and the firstborn son of Pharaoh and God showed everyone that neither Pharaoh nor his son was a god by allowing that son to die and pharaoh couldn't stop it each of the plagues was against one of the false gods of the egyptians do you see that the plagues were revelations of the emptiness of what the pagans worshipped now can you imagine what a plague in our own time would look like if God decided to bring our idols crumbling to their feet 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 a stay 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 nacnes, 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 nacnes, 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 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 the urine's 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 the urine's 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 the urine's 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. What are our false gods? What do we pretend is the most important thing? More important than the true God? What would our plagues look like? Well, as a society, we certainly place the gaining of wealth as a priority over God. We worship money and saving for retirement. So imagine a plague that just evaporated everyone's savings and retirement account, and everyone had to just start from scratch again and rely on one another. That would freak a lot of people out. As a society, we worship sex, particularly recreational sex, without consequences. What if everyone's contraceptives suddenly stopped working and everybody's sterilizations were suddenly reversed and there was absolutely no access to abortion? That would freak a lot of people out, too. we tend to spend all our free time looking for mindless entertainment in our society what if God made it impossible to watch any news or shows or sports or God forbid if YouTube crashed people would have a tough time with that too we tend to worship health and freedom what if there was a plague that made everyone terrified of getting sick and forced everyone to stay in their homes all day. Oh wait, that kind of happened, didn't it? And it freaked everybody out. These kinds of things wouldn't just be inconvenient, they would show our society what it was attached to. But the main question isn't, What is society attached to? The main question is, what am I attached to? What do I love and want more than God? Because those are my idols. 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, 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, prayer for us and earn us 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, prayer for us and earns 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 and earns 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 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 fourth meditation. When God sent the plagues to Egypt, it was a chance for the Egyptians and the Israelites to rethink who was God and what wasn't. More importantly, it was a chance to rethink what they wanted most, things of this world or union with the true God. Whenever God allows a trial a health trial a relationship trial a financial trial a reputation trial it is an opportunity to rethink what we want most God or some created thing If these trials overwhelm us, well that reveals something. It shows that we may want achievement and recognition more than God, or good health more than God, or the love and companionship of a man or woman more than God. Whatever it is that, if threatened, makes us anxious, angry, resentful, or despairing, then that thing for us has become a God. and the trial is not sent to destroy us. It's permitted to expose and topple that idol so that we can be set free for union with God. That's why every trial from God is a gift because it's a chance to remember that there's only one God and that He is the only thing we absolutely need. 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 and earns 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 earns 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 earns 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 fruits 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 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 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 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 fifth meditation. An idol is something we treat as if we can't live without it. So what is the thing you are most afraid of losing? What, if threatened, makes you anxious? What makes you angry when it is blocked? What leaves you resentful or despairing when it's lost? That is the place where your heart is clinging to an idol. That is your Nile, your Pharaoh. And Lent is the time to let God set us free. Now, we don't want to wait for God to tear the idol from our hands. Loosen the grip now. So what can we do? Make our relationship with God the priority. That's how we show ourselves that He's God. Spend time with Him in friendship and prayer like you are right now. But, go further. I should say, and go further. Accept his invitation to spend more time with him and give him your undivided attention. And then, when some trial comes that threatens or removes one of your idols, that thing you think you can't live without, simply turn to the Lord and say, Lord, I know I'm safe with you, and that you will carry me out of Egypt and into the promised land. I don't need that thing, Lord. I just need you. 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 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 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 ensnown 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 ensnown 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 substance now and 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 sustain 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 Amen 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. Teresa, before we jump into our conversation, I just want to remind everyone that every day during Lent, Dr. Troy Hinkle will be providing practical guidance to help you really live Lent well. And you can find this on our app. Just go to the community space on our app and join the Lenten mission. What did that meditation make you think about? Two things. I don't believe that God sent COVID like a punishment, but I do believe God in his providence allowed that situation around the world as a chance for us to experience a little bit of what the Israelites experienced in the sense of the whole world was shut down. And I think that was our moment of grace to ask ourselves, wait a minute, what really does matter? But what the danger is? Now, I think there were a lot of people that they did take that moment of grace and they reset the priorities in their life. And their lives are better now. Yeah. But I think for too many people in the world, they just went back to business as usual. And that moment of grace, they missed. Yeah. That's the first thing I was thinking about. Interesting. I certainly agree. I think COVID really showed us that. I think there is always the illusion that there are things that we're all bound to lose, like our health and things like that. But it undeceived us. I've always loved that word. I see it in all the classics. Undeceived. It undeceived us that we can lose a lot more than we realize. we think well at least the world will operate as it currently functions it's kind of the way that we take physics for granted if i drop an apple it will fall these things will always be true there will always be jobs there will always be grocery stores there will always be travel but those things can disappear in a dime and it makes you stop and take account of your life and look at everything and say anything that you can name could disappear at a moment's notice and that shouldn't fill you with fear it should just be part of reality yeah because the one thing that cannot disappear on a dime is god and his love and care for us be attached to the one if it's like i actually can't really form a quick metaphor here but i'm almost imagining an island surrounded by glaciers as they break apart you want to find the one bit of stable land god is the only real land mass there and everything else is melting and breaking apart and it might last longer than everything else but there's only one real piece of dry land that's a great analogy but what was the second thing that struck you i was reflecting on how i'm gonna say something that you won't agree with but uh when you're gonna do this this is your CIA tactic. I've heard of this. When you're young, it's hard to see the idols. Partly because when you're young, you're just busy pursuing good things, genuinely good things. But by the time you're in your mid fifties and sixties, seventies, man, you really can start to see your idols if you're paying attention and i was thinking about all the ways as humans we cope we find ways to cope with the pressure of either trying to protect our idols or deal with the potential loss of our idols all the coping mechanisms of alcohol or food or antidepressants or pornography or escaping through travel or whatever. But we've built up a whole system of coping mechanisms with the pressure of protecting our idols or the fear of losing our idols. And if we've fallen into one of those coping mechanisms, what we should really be asking is, what's the idol i'm trying to protect or that i fear losing because it's true even when it comes to the intangible idols the things your identity your value your work how you're represented to the public all of these things that i think stress us out the most all the time yeah yeah That's good. It's good. Think about what you fear. What are you protecting? Yep. Because I don't think, you're right, I don't think we see it as the thing that we're protecting. We just see the coping mechanism. But also it's hard to handle problems like alcoholism or similar addictions because if you don't actually know the thing you're protecting, if you don't know why you're doing it, it's harder to stop. And one of the most subtle coping mechanisms is escaping into entertainment. Yeah, it's funny you call it subtle because I feel like it's as subtle as a brick through a window. But it's certainly a way to deliver a message. It's constant and it's all the time. It's subtle because it's right in front of your face. It's the whole world around us right now. Yeah. It's subtle fish in water, you know? Yeah. So, you know, we look back at the Israelites, we think, how could you be so stupid? Pharaoh, how could you be so stupid? And they're all, wherever they are in eternity, heaven, hell, or purgatory, and they're looking at us and they're saying, how could you be so stupid? Well, we better start looking at ourselves for a minute. Oh, trust me. I'm looking at myself. Okay. Thanks for the conversation. Thank you. Let's be apostles of friendship, good conversation, and the rosary. Share this with others.