Paying the Penny

Arguably the most important body of teaching of Jesus, but it's not enough for us to know it.

We need to live it. So let's begin in the name of the Father in the Son in 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. He's 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. It was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and he 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, becoming unemnab saints, the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen. Our Father, who art in heaven,

hollowed be your name, thy kingdom come by 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, our Thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and her is known at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and her is known at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and her is known at the hour of our death, amen.

Hail Mary, be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, as now, never shall be, world without end, amen.

Our first mystery. In this sermon on the Mount, Jesus says,

“"Come to terms with your accuser in good time, while you are still on the way to the court with him,”

or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison." I tell you solemnly, you will not get out till you have paid the last penny. Jesus uses an analogy here, because God does not throw people into prison. Actually, we in prison ourselves, through pride, and every other vice that turns us inward, and if we remain, if we stubbornly persist in that self-love forever,

then we freely choose the prison of hell. And what does pain in the last penny mean? We don't owe God money, but we do owe him love. And every disordered attachment must be surrendered. Every disordered love must be purified. Every penny must be paid before we reach perfect union with God. And the last penny is every attachment that keeps us from loving God with an undivided heart.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hollowed be your name. Like 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. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, art thou among women, blessed, and is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, art thou among women, blessed, and is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, art thou among women, blessed, and is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with

thee, blessed, art thou among women, blessed, and is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, art thou among women, blessed, and is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, art thou among women, blessed, and is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with

pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with

“thee, blessed, art thou among women, blessed, and is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,”

pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, art thou among women, blessed, and is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, art thou among women, blessed, and is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and earns now in 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 in Never Shall be,

world without end, amen. Oh, 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 mystery, one way to understand this passage, is in the context of the fourth beattitude, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They shall be satisfied. Another way we could say it is, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for God. See, if we hunger and thirst for poison, or even

junk, we will never be healthy and strong physically, and the same goes for our spiritual life.

“My grand sons are typical little kids. I make a wonderful Sunday supper, and what do they want?”

Hey, Papa, they say, "Is it time for dessert? Can we have ice cream now?"

And spiritually, we are all like little kids. God is offering a full course banquet of himself and all his divine delights to us, and we prefer the junk to him. Why? Because we've trained our souls to crave lesser goods, so we no longer recognize and really want the taste for God. Just like the taste and preferences of my grand sons, they need to mature so that they hunger for good food that will make them healthy and strong. Likewise, we need to grow in our

hunger and thirst for God so that we can be healthy, strong, and satisfied spiritually. Our Father, who art in heaven, hollowed 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. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,

now in the hour of our death amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with

thee, blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for the thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in

the hour of our death amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,

As it was in the beginning, as now in the verse, I'll be rolled without end amen. Oh, my Jesus. For give us our sins, save us in the fires of hell. Lead all souls to have

“an especially those most in need of thy mercy. Our third mystery. One way to look at life is to”

consider it as three hungers. First, we hunger for sinful pleasures. Then we hunger for created goods.

Finally, we hunger for God Himself. At first, we seek satisfaction in pleasure, success, approval, power, and every kind of self-indulgence, and that hunger leads to all kinds of sinful and really destructive pursuits. Hopefully, we wake up and realize, hey, this isn't really making me happy, and I'm not fully satisfied with this. I actually need something more, and that often leads to our conversion to a more mature life. God first allows us to discover

that sin cannot satisfy us. Then we hit the second stage where we begin to pursue good things

in a good way. We pursue an education and a profession. We seek a husband or wife and start a

family and raise our kids or maybe you entered the seminary or religious life. And we realize

“we do need to take care of our health and eat well and exercise and just how important good”

sleep is. And as we mature, we recognize the need to grow in knowledge and the experience of real beauty over just mindless entertainment. Most of all, hopefully we begin to pursue a better relationship with God and then he teaches us that even created goods cannot fully satisfy us. Our father who worked in heaven, hollowed beer name, by kingdom come by will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us a stare, daily bread, and give 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 our Thou among women blessed is a 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 our Thou among women blessed is a 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 our Thou among women blessed is a 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 our Thou among women blessed is a 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 our Thou among women blessed is a 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 our Thou among women blessed is a 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 our Thou among women blessed is a 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 our Thou among women blessed is a 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 our Thou among women blessed is a 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 our Thou among women blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in 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 and sound of our shall be, we're old without end, amen. Oh, my Jesus, forgive us, our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to have and especially those

most in need of thy mercy. Our fourth mystery then comes the stage where we have to really work hard to live a well-ordered and balanced life so that we don't become attached in a disordered way to one of these good things and to the neglect or harm of others. We can fall into the

And this comes at the neglect or harm of a deeper relationship with God and our spouse and kids.

Or we can give all our time and energy and attention to our kids and then neglect our relationship with God, or our spouse, or our physical health. This is where we need to do our part to step back and ask, am I pursuing all the goods in a well-ordered and balanced way? My relationship with God, marriage and vocation, work, health, leisure, do I have the right ingredients in the right order

“and the right proportion, or am I putting too much emphasis in one area to the neglect of others?”

And we may find we need to cut back on things that were too attached to

so that we can pursue other goods in a balanced way. This takes a good bit of sacrifice and

discipline, which is exactly what our souls need to mature and grow in your name with God. Our Father, who art in heaven, hollow would be your name. My kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You have us to stay or do the 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,

“our Thal among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,”

pray for us in earth's noun at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thal among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth's noun at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thal among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth's noun at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with

thee, blessed, our Thal among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth's noun at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with

“thee, blessed, our Thal among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,”

pray for us in earth's noun at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thal among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth's noun at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thal among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth's noun at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with

thee, blessed, our Thal among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth's noun at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thal among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth's noun at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thal among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us in earth's noun 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 noun, never shall be, world without end, amen.

Oh, my Jesus. Forgive us, our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to have an especially those most in need of thy mercy. Our fifth mystery. Finally, God draws us beyond every created thing to himself, because he alone is infinite goodness. Whatever good things God has given us, professions, relationships, health, knowledge, beauty, homes in beautiful places, travel experiences. Whatever it is, little by little, these begin to satisfy us less and less.

Now the temptation is to try to replace these with some other form of the same. We sell a business and build a new one, divorce this spouse and find a better model by a house in a new place, travel to more exotic places and have more fun. But the problem was that with any of those good things you had, the problem was they were not God and only God can satisfy the desires of your

lose our desire for the good things we have, that is the moment when God is inviting us to a

“higher fulfillment, a deeper satisfaction and an infinitely better delight in Him. So let all the”

boredom disappointments and losses be seen for what they really are and invitation to love God more and receive more of Him. This is the invitation from God to receive Him every day in the Eucharist and to spend more time with Him in prayer. And there in the Eucharist and prayer, God gives us what we have been searching for all along Himself. Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end. Our Father who art in heaven, hell, it would be your name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

If us stay our daily bread and free of us our trespasses, as we free of those who trespass against us,

“and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil amen.”

Hey, I'm Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed our Thalmung women blessities of fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen. Hey, I'm Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed our Thalmung women blessities of fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen. Hey, I'm Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed our Thalmung women blessities of fruit of

thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen. Hey, I'm Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed our Thalmung women blessities of fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen. Hey, I'm Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed our Thalmung women blessities of fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen.

Hey, I'm Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed our Thalmung women blessities of fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen. Hey, I'm Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed our Thalmung women blessities of fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen. Hey, I'm Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed our Thalmung women blessities of fruit of

thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen. Hey, I'm Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed our Thalmung women blessities of fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen. Hey, I'm Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed our Thalmung women blessities of fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown 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, has now

never shall be, or old without end amen. Oh, my Jesus, forgive us, our sins, save us from the fires of

health. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy. St. 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 old prince of the heavenly host by the power of God, cast into hell, Satan, and all the evil spirits who prowth throughout the world, seeking the ruin of souls in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“So what kind of your attention with this meditation, Teresa?”

This is a bit of a winding road, but I was thinking about how a shocking percentage of shoplifters are not people who don't have money, who need what they're stealing, but a lot of it is rich teenagers that want to steal. That's, you see so much of that, taking what is an hour as what we shouldn't have is not an exaggerated need, but an exaggerated want. It's also partially entitlement that they think there's not going to be consequences, they don't have to pay for it,

And the way that I then looked at how I say she ate all of my desires all the time,

because we live in kind of a over-abundance in America, that you get into the habit that everyone, every craving can be immediately met. I mean, any food I want, I can get take out any time, or I could door-dash food, and that gets you into the habit of every desire

“has to be fulfilled. And that's, I think, what deals that kind of endless cycle of”

addiction with our phones, or our food, or even down to gossip, or anger, or lust, or hatred of other people, because anytime we feel the desire, we feel as if we don't even have much choice, we're just going to fill it, and we don't think we're going to pay the price, and we're think we think we're entitled to all of those things. So the point where if we're deprived at any point, it's mind-blowing, oh my phone's not working right now, I don't have Wi-Fi here, it's so weird.

Everything's really slow right now. I can't order for my favorite restaurant, or I can't even hold my tongue and not gossip about someone, because it's just such a feedback loop of

desire, and there's so little things that we can't get that we can always feed the desire.

So I was just thinking about how much in all the little things I could benefit from just

“not meeting every desire every single time. Yeah, so what you're talking about is a very important”

two sides of a very important spiritual principle from John of the Cross, active purification and passive purification. Active purification is when you're recognizing, oh, I've got some disordered desires, and I need to curb them. I need to sacrifice fast, curb whatever you want to discipline them. I need to, I need to do that. Yeah, that's the active purification that we're called to, and if we don't, our addictions meaning our vices really control us. The other side

is the passive purification, where things occur in life that deny you of the things you want, and we are job then is too. Just accept it. Yeah, exactly. I mean, the thing is it seems like something small to not pick up your phone when you want to pick up your phone, or for me right now, this has been a bit of a joke with my friends, but I'm trying to eat less chocolate. I eat a crazy amount of chocolate. It's ridiculous to the point where I'm just feeding for chocolate all the time,

and for me just to not eat chocolate is a big step, but I feel it, and I'm aware of it, and just that might be a small thing that's not really ruining my life, but it does grow something in me to be able to resist constant desires for different things. Being able to not pick up my phone is life-changing for me, but that doesn't mean the one just goes away, or it's comfortable or easy.

I'm always thinking, "Ah, until I can pick up my phone, until I can pick up my phone."

So the real question is, what's wrong with just feeding all of our desires? The problem is, they consume us, and then there's no hunger nor room for God. So we want to do everything we can to get control of those desires, accept all the ways that God allows us to be to not have them,

“so that we can be emptied and make room for the only thing that satisfies us.”

But I watch. It's so easy to think that feeding that one desire isn't going to hurt you, but the point is, like you said, it's this whole host of desires, and none of them are the desire you should have, but they're taking up all the space of that thing you should desire. Yeah. So even if they all seem little, just chipping away at that block, makes more room for God. So it feels unrelated, but every time we can refocus our desires, that's a huge step.

Yeah. And the purpose of this life is to go through these stages and as life as God through life,

or as I said, we begin to realize they don't satisfy. Don't double down.

“Because that's the thing. It's with the shoplifting analogy. It's, this doesn't satisfy.”

Pets just take more. If I just take more. If it's just more of a thrill. If it's something

I have no right to have in the first place, you just keep, you keep going.

“Well, it's, it's, it's any addiction. You have to keep increasing the amount to get the same”

satisfaction. But we have to, we have to get out of that cycle. And

realize the only thing that satisfies us God. So, especially as we get older, to, as we think of this, as we get older, we have increasingly more amounts of free time. What do we do with our free time? Do we use our free time to double down, trying to find our

“happiness and earthly things? Or are we using our free time at, in order to have a union with God?”

That's a pretty clear sign right there. Well, thanks for the conversation. Thank you. So, you see, and I shouldn't give your nephews ice cream right off the bat when they come over for Sunday. So, that's totally different. They deserve it. That's kind of what I thought. Let's be apostles of friendship, good conversation, and the rosary. Share this with others.