Jesse Romero 2004

Jesse Romero's life transformed when he turned to faith and rediscovered his Catholic roots. He now speaks at Catholic events and emphasizes the importance of faith in Christ. He believes in the power of the Bible as a weapon of mass instruction. Romero urges people to read the Bible with the heart of the church and highlights the power of confession in restoring our relationship with God. He uses the story of King David to illustrate the dangers of sin and the need for repentance. Romero encourages humility and reminds people that we are all sinners in need of God's grace. That was how Jesse Romero used to channel his competitive fire, his spirit. Then in 1986, a fellow officer challenged Jesse to pick up a Bible and use faith instead of force as a way to find escape from the pressures of police life. That event began a transformation that continues to benefit us today. For in the Bible, Jesse rediscovered his Catholic roots. During his years as a deputy sheriff, Jesse experienced the dark side of society every day. Yet he also saw the evidence of God's work in some of the most unusual places. What made the difference? Faith in Christ. Today, Jesse is committed to keeping the faith alive by speaking at Catholic events throughout the United States. He is a frequent guest on EWTN. As a speaker, you will see that Jesse takes a straight-talk, Christ-centered approach. His messages may be simple, but when delivered with his trademark energy and conviction, you'll be left with the indelible impression that our Catholic faith is to be worn visibly and proudly. The phrase, use it or lose it, takes on a whole new meaning in his hands. Gentlemen, let's give a warm welcome to Jesse Romero. Good morning, brothers in Christ. I'm not going to give you ATLL, I'm going to give you heaven this morning. And this morning, brothers in Christ, you know, the way in this country we've been, there's this big old controversy back and forth about weapons for mass destruction. That doesn't concern me, you know what? Because this morning, I got the weapon of mass instruction. It's the Bible. Weapon of mass instruction. That's what we're going to talk about this morning. The Scriptures. The Word of God. You can divide people in this country in two categories. Either you believe in the Word of God or you don't. Period. End of story. And for us as Catholic Christians, as it says in the Catechism in Article 3, that we nourish our moral consciousness with the Word of God. We sustain ourselves with the Word of God. I tell people that I'm a born-again, Bible-believing, charismatic, Spirit-filled, confirmed, evangelical, Roman Catholic Christian, sustained and empowered by the Word of God. Amen? Amen. And we've got to read the Bible with the heart of the church. Tell two people right here we've got to read the Bible with the heart of the church. Tell two people right now. Weapon of mass instruction right now. I want to get very specific this morning. I want to talk about the power. The power of confession. The power of receiving God's grace in your soul. You know, there is one thing that breaks and severs our relationship with the living God. And it severs our relationship with others. It's called sin. And if you notice the word sin, S-I-N, it's got a big I in the middle. I. Because you become the center of your life. That is radically opposed to what the Catholic Church teaches. The Catholic Church teaches that it is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone that should be the center of our life. Tell two people right here that Jesus Christ has to be the center of your life. Tell two people right now. Bible, B-I-B-L-E, B-I-B-L-E, basic instruction before leaving earth. See, there's a problem and we're all in this big room in the sky. It's called the room for improvement. And we're all the mess. You know what that mess is? We're all going to die. We're all sinners and we're all going to die. Every single one of you. You woke up this morning, not any younger. You woke up this morning, one day closer to the grave. Every single one of us, man. We call that in biology, the law of entropy. Every, all matter ceases to decompose. But you know something? As Catholic Christians, for two thousand years, we have believed that the baby from Bethlehem became the Christ on Calvary and has become the Lord of the empty tomb. And we are empowered and sustained by the promises of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ ain't no politician. He ain't going to get impeached. Amen? Jesus Christ ain't no politician. He's not going to resign. Jesus Christ is not going to terminate office after four years. The Bible says in Revelation chapter 19 verse 11 that Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Tell two people that Jesus ain't no politician. Two people right now. Well, welcome to the, to the men's conference. We want to call this conference the no-sin zone. Okay? And we want to take the no-sin zone back into our houses. Men's conferences are so important because we need to marshal all that castesperon in a good way and take it back to our parishes, take it back to our houses. Take it back to our houses. The Bible says in Proverbs 27, 17, it says, Iron sharpens iron and one man sharpens another. Tell that to two people. Iron sharpens iron and one man sharpens another. Two people right now. But we're going to see the power of confession here. Confession restores us back to the living God. Confession reconciles us back to the Lord. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 59 verse 2, it says, Your sins have cut you off from God. Your sins have cut you off from God. That's what sin does. Severs that relationship with the Lord. Severs that relationship with others. Sin is being self-enclosed. It's making yourself the center, the be-all and the end-all of life. And there's a very powerful story for us as men found in Scripture. In 2 Samuel chapter 11 and 12, very practical story about the power of confession. King David around 1000 BC, at the height of his dynasty. Oh, King David is winning one battle after another. He is making a Davidic dynasty in the Mediterranean world. Conquering one pagan civilization after another. But he's got it all. The author of, according to a Jewish and Catholic tradition of the book of Psalms, a man of prayer. A man who loves God. Good looking, respected, wealthy. He had everything that a man could desire. But he wrestles with the oldest problem known to man. And you know, the devil don't play fair. The devil knows exactly what to do, man. The devil then, he kicks us right between the legs, man. The devil knows where to go after you and me. It's right between the legs, man. Yep. For he don't play fair. And King David, the paradigm of the kings of Israel, the man of God, the Bible says in the book of Acts, it says, King David was the man after God's own heart. And that's powerful. God looked at David and said, David's the man after my own heart. But yet the story, it demonstrates that a man could be walking with the Lord. Be a lover of God. Be a man of prayer. A man who goes to the church. But you know what, man? You could slip on a banana peel if you don't watch yourself. Don't be presumptuous. Don't say, man, you know, I'm part of the Knights of Columbus, I'm part of the men's fellowship, I go to Mass on Sundays, I'm an usher, I'm a lecturer. You know what? There's no way I'm going to do what my neighbor over here does. The Bible says that pride goes before the fall. Tell two people right now, pride goes before the fall. Tell two people. You know what, if you're walking with the Lord, praise God. But if you're walking with the Lord, you thank God. And when you see somebody that's away from the faith, a family member, a friend, instead of saying, yeah, look at that guy. He doesn't know the Lord, man. He doesn't have a relationship with Jesus like I do. He's not living in the state of grace. You know what you've got to say to people like that? You've got to just pound your chest and say, but for the grace of God, there go I. Tell two people right now, but for the grace of God, there go I. Pound that chest. You know, in the Bible, pounding the chest is a sign of repentance. We even bring that into the sacred liturgy. We beat our breast during the Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. A sign of humility. King David, in the year 1000, man, he blew it big time, man. King David was strolling along the palace, the rooftop, and all the men of Israel were engaged in war against the Amalekites. King David is the only man in Israel, and he's just strolling on the top of the palace, and he looks over yonder, and he sees a lady showering. And people don't shower with clothes on, you know that. A nice young naked lady taking a shower. And King David, instead of going like this, oh, occasion of sin, occasion of sin, I'm out of here. No, King David just looked over, and just like... See, I'm going to tell you right now, sin starts with the eyeball. Right here, man. Sin starts in the eyeball, and then it runs to the imagination. And then, if it's left unchecked, it runs to the members of your body. Boom. Sin. That's the theology of the way sin starts with the eye. Venial sin, and it goes to mortal sin. St. James talks about that in James chapter 1. The theology of the way sin just runs from venial sin to mortal sin. James chapter 1, verse 14, it says, But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin. Yes, desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin. And when it is full-grown, it brings forth death. You see, the Bible talks about that sin starts growing, there's organic development, and then at the end, it brings forth what? Yes, we call that in the Talmud, mortal sin. It's right there, baby. Right here. Weapon of mass destruction right here. But the Bible says, because so many people, you know, they just try to, they try to pull your carpet, they say, you know, the Lord is tempting me. But the Lord ain't tempting you. You're enticed by your own desire. The Bible says, James chapter 1, verse 13, Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and God himself tempts no one. Tell two people right now, God tempts no one. Tell two people. King David, man, just figured, okay. Oh, that lady looks good. Oh, who's her husband? Oh, Uriah the Hittite. Ah, he's some nice foreigner who was enlisted in my army. He's over there battling with the Amalekites. There is no guys in Israel, Jerusalem. So he let it run to his heart, run to his imagination, say, hmm, I wonder how it would be to be next to Bathsheba naked. And they said, man, forget about thinking about it, I'm going to do it. The power of the king called the servant, said, man, go bring Bathsheba over here. Brings all the king's pelts, fornicates, adultery, gets her pregnant. And she tells him, hey, David, I'm pregnant. So now King David said, oh, no, hold on. I got my buddy's wife pregnant. I'm a man of God. I'm a man of prayer. People look at me as the paradigm king of Israel. I'm looked at as a holy king, a righteous king, a just king, and I got my buddy's wife pregnant. What am I going to do? So you know what God wants us to do when we blow it? Get on your knees and confess, baby. Get that soul in the box. St. Augustine calls it confessional box. He calls that the medicine box. The medicine box where we encounter the divine physician, and Jesus Christ is the divine physician, according to St. Augustine, but Jesus Christ has a SWAT team, and that SWAT team is called the Catholic priest. Amen? And you know what? And that's why the devil is going after... I'm going to tell you who the devil is going after today. He ain't going after Hollywood. He's got Hollywood. He's going after Hollywood. Except, of course, not Gibson, okay? We got a friend in Hollywood, amen? You see, the devil goes right after the priesthood and attacks them. Boom, right between the legs. The devil goes after family, goes after you and me. Boom, right between the legs. How do you do this? Confession. Confession. Check it out. David, he's concealing the sin, and you know what he says? Well, I got Uriah's wife pregnant. Man. He says, Uriah, come and take a vacation. Go on. Spend some time with your wife. He goes, ha ha ha. Go home. Give him some couple of vacation days from battle. Then he'll go home and engage in the marital act with his wife. Then I'll pat him on the back for a couple of months. Hey, congratulations. You got Bathsheba pregnant when you came home for vacation. David told Bathsheba, go home. Take a rest. Go with your wife. He told Uriah. Uriah told the king, no, I can't. My men are in battle. I can't go. The Jews in the Old Testament, there's a law that during battle, they can't engage in the sexual act of intimacy with their wife. He told David, I can't go. My men are fighting in battle. I've got to be out there. David said, oh, man. Her son is going to go. How am I going to conceal the sin? See, that's what we do oftentimes. We run away instead of confessing, instead of throwing ourselves on our knees and say, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. We try to conceal it. Try to cover it up. So David says, I know what I'll do. I'll get him drunk. David got Uriah drunk, tried to send him home, and Uriah is the babbling drunk, and he doesn't want to go home. He slept right in the porch of the palace. David's saying, go home. Go be with your wife. No, king, not at all. I am fighting for the honor of Israel. Even drunk, he wouldn't go home. I laid with his wife. He's a soldier, a man of conviction. So David said, man, her stomach's going. How am I going to hide this? Everybody looks at me, you know, the author of the Book of Psalms, a man of God, a holy man, a man of prayer. A righteous king. And I got my buddy's wife pregnant. So what did David do? He said, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to have him killed. So he calls his nephew, Joab. He says, hey, Joab, go take Uriah. Put him in the front lines where the fighting is fierce. And then give the car to all the men of Israel, the Jews, to pull back so the Americans can strike him down. I need him dead, man. I need him dead. That's exactly what happened. Joab took Uriah, placed him in the front line where the fighting was fierce. The Bible says that he was struck down dead because the Israelites pulled back. They abandoned him. Joab comes back and tells David, hey, check it out. This is a man of God. Big old violator of the commandments. He knows the Ten Commandments given to the Lord, to Moses, for all the Israelites and for all the world. Sixth Commandment. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Ninth Commandment. Thou shalt not convert thy neighbor's wife. Sixth Commandment. Thou shalt not kill. Man, strike. One strike. Two strikes. Three strikes. David's out. Tell two people right now that David had three strikes. Tell them right now. See where I come from in California, the left coast, where I come from, you get three strikes and they put you in prison for the rest of your life. But thank God that our God is a God of mercy, mercy, mercy. Because we can have ten strikes if you get down on your knees and you plead His mercy in the sacrament of confession. God will forgive you. The Bible says in Psalm 103, the Lord says, I will remove your sins as far as the east is from the west. I will remember them no more. Amen. God is mercy. Mercy. Mercy. God will take your sins and He will dump them into the sea of forgetfulness. He says, I will remember them no more. See, men forgive, but they don't forget. God forgives and God forgets. Tell two people that God forgives and God forgets. Tell two people right now. Tell two people that we have an awesome God. Tell two people we got an awesome God. And check it out, man. I think that there must have been a men's conference over in Jerusalem back at the time of David. Because there was another man that went and put David in check. See, that's why we need fellowship. The Bible says in Galatians 6, verse 2, it says, bear one another's burdens. The book of Amos, chapter 3, says, can two people walk together unless they agree? The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12, 26 and 27, it says, if one person suffers, all of us suffer. If one person rejoices, we all rejoice. Christianity was not meant to live in isolation. Christianity is a community. The overarching motif in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, according to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, is the idea of communion. You know what? If you want to be a lone wolf, if you want to be a lone ranger Christian, you better find yourself a canto right now. You can't do it by yourself. And that's exactly what happened here. God sent David, because David, man, David had one foot in hell, baby. David was jumping over the trapdoor of hell. And why do I say that? Because Catholic teaching is very clear from the New Catechism. If somebody dies in mortal sin, unconfessed, unrepentant mortal sin, baby, you go downstairs to the basement, the temperature's pretty hot, and the people aren't real friendly. But what'd the Lord do here? He sent a Nathan. Nathan, the prophet. And Nathan knew what David was concealing in his heart. David, a man of God, a prophet, looks at the king, and he knows that God loves David. He knows that God wants David to be saved and to walk in obedience. So God loves us so much that He will send another man in our life to speak the truth and love, as the Bible says in Ephesians 4.15. St. Thomas of Aquinas says that God loves us so much that God will even send us an angel to save us at the very last moment of our life. And Nathan walks up to David, and David's like, yeah. Cool, man. I'm going to have you another wife over here, Bathsheba. I'm going to have a baby boy. Her husband's dead. I had him killed. Man. He respects me. I'm popular. Man, things couldn't be better. Nathan walks up and says, David, I've got a story to tell you. Yeah, what is it, Nathan? Why, here's the story, king. I've got a parable, okay? Yeah, go share it with me. He goes, there's a rich man that owns all this cattle on a thousand hills. And there's a poor man right next door that owns one little lamb. That's all he's got. The rich man is having company that evening. The rich man could have taken one of his thousands of lambs and prepared supper for his buddies coming over in the evening. But instead, the rich man, he peeks over the fence, looks at the poor man's property, sees that he has only one little lamb. David, one little lamb. He says, I'm going to take it. He took the only lamb that the poor man had, killed it, sacrificed it, offered it to his friends. So Nathan says to king David, so what do you think about that parable, king? Oh, man. David, man, he blew his cork, man. He says, then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. And David said, as the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die. David says, Nathan, you show me who this rich man that did that, and I'm going to whack him. What did Nathan say? Next verse, Nathan says, King, you're the man. You're the man, David. You're the rich man I spoke about in the parables. The rich man that owns the cattle on a thousand hills. The rich man that owns and has everything that a man can desire in this lifetime. And it is you, king, that looked over the fence and you saw Uriah the Hittite, a bondservant to the army of David. He's not even a Jew. He's a foreigner, giving his life for your service. And he has Bathsheba, his only little lamb. You went over and you took his life, and you had him killed. And you, David, have everything that a man could desire. You're the man, David. You're the man. See, this is the importance of male fellowship, male encouragement, male empowerment. See, because oftentimes, you know, when our wives tell us, our ladies tell us, what do we do as men? We give them the hand. But there's something about a man telling another man. I guess, you know what, just like that, you know, there's that testosterone in us, man. You know what I'm saying? It's just, we accept it a lot easier when it comes from another man, a fellow co-worker, somebody we work out with at the gym, somebody who, you know, we spend time with at soccer, little league practice. And then we say, you know what? Wow, it is God's gift. And then we say, you know what? Wow, it is God speaking through me, right? God speaking through this man like me, even spoke to David. What happens here? David's convicted because David's a man of God. And the Holy Spirit is now bringing him back to his senses. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins. Tell two people, the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins. Two people right now. Oh, and you're going to see a little bit, you're going to see a little bit of the sacrament of reconciliation right here in the Old Testament, typology prefigured in the Old Testament. Check this out. Man, David knows he blew it, man. David's guilty of adultery, coveting somebody else's wife. Murder! And lying, thou shalt not lie. Ooh, man. Strike four. David's in all kinds of trouble. It's pretty hot under that trap door right now. And what does David do? David says, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul, and I gave you your master's house. And yet you have smitten your right of the Hittite with a sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife. Man, David is rebuking him, man. Holy rebuke. You're wrong, baby. God loves you. And right now, man, you've got blood in your hands, David. But David is a man of prayer. See, that's the beautiful thing. If you're a man of prayer, God can work through the grace of the sacraments, through the grace of prayer, in the soul that is constantly communing with God through prayer and the sacraments. David is a man who understood walking in a state of grace, even though at this point he stepped on a banana peel. And what did David say? There's an examination of conscience. David thinks about what he does, and in verse 13 of 2 Samuel 12, it says, David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. So what happened? Boom, number one. David examines his conscience. That's what we're called to do as men. As Nathan is rebuking him and exhorting him, David thinks that he's right. He's right. I'm in violation of God's holy law. Nathan's right. He listens to Nathan. David responds, I have sinned against the Lord. So he examines his conscience, number one. Number two, what did he do? Confession. Bam. Examination of conscience, confession. Verse 13, And Nathan said to David, The Lord has also put away your sin. You shall not die. Check that out. With that absolution and penance, Nathan speaks for the Lord as an instrument of God, and he tells David, once he hears David's repentance and confession, what does Nathan tell him? He says, The Lord has put away your sin. That's what we hear in the Catholic Church, through the priests. The Lord has absolved you of your sin. We see that in the Old Testament. Nathan tells David, The Lord has put away your sin. And he says, You shall not die. Nevertheless, Ah, here comes penance. Ah, here comes some serious penance. Nathan tells David, Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die. Absolution. Penance. And the Bible tells us, some of us say, Come on, God, I confess my sin. I don't want to suffer the consequences. Just forgive me and take the consequences away. No. In natural life, there's consequences for your actions. In the natural world, there are consequences for all human actions. And in the spiritual world, there's also consequences for violating and transgressing God's law. God loves you. God will forgive you. But we have to restore that moral equilibrium because of our sins. And the Bible tells us in Acts chapter 26, verse 20, it says that we must perform deeds worthy of repentance. Oh, that's a little Catholic right there. Perform deeds worthy of repentance. Tell two people right now, you must perform deeds worthy of repentance. Tell two people. David was forgiven. He was restored. But the baby born to Bathsheba died. There was consequences for his actions. Sin brings, as St. Paul says, the wages of sin in Romans chapter 6, the wages of sin are death. Tell two people the wages of sin are death. Tell two people right now. I was talking to a priest friend of mine in Chicago. He's in his 90s, retired. And he was telling me that back in the 30s and 40s, back in the days of Al Capone, he said even organized crime in their demented, disordered way, they understand the theology of mortal sin. They understand what mortal sin does to the soul that it cuts you off from the life of God. My priest friend who's in his 90s told me that back in the 30s and 40s, Al Capone, he would send his enforcers if somebody, you know, ripped them off or committed some violation against organized crime, they would pick the person up in a limousine. That's why I was kind of nervous. I got picked up in a limousine yesterday. I thought I was going to get whacked. I don't want to get in no limousine. But now, thank you to God, it was a Catholic men's conference, so I said, well, I'm in a state of grace, so they whacked me, man. I'm going to heaven. This priest told me that Al Capone's enforcers, if somebody would violate and cross the line, transgress the organized crime, what he would do is he would send his enforcers, he'd pick you up in a limo. If he liked you, he would stop by a rectory. A priest would jump into the limousine, would hear the confession of the person, and right before they're going to whack him, they'll tell Father, OK, we'll let you back off in the rectory. They would take the person to an undisclosed location after he confessed the sin, and they would kill him. Bam. See, because they understand that confession means salvation. Confession means restoration. But Al Capone, if he didn't like you, he would send his goons to pick you up, take you to the limousine, take you to a motel, and buy a nasty prostitute for you. And he'd be doing the dance of the seven veils, and he'd tell his enforcers, give him about five or ten minutes, when he's butt naked, and when he's in the act of fornication, I want you to go kick down the door, and I want you to say, you die in mortal sin. Bam. Death. Even organized crime knows what mortal sin does to the soul. Death. Death. But the Bible tells us, in 1 John 1, verse 9, and I want you to stand by these promises as I come down to the wire here. It says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I want you to remember that verse. When you go home, I want you to get your Bible, get a yellow marker. Bam. Highlighted. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins. How do you confess your sins? I'm going to share two things before I wrap it up. Every night before I go to bed, I say the act of contrition. That's my final prayer before I close my eyes at night. Act of contrition. Oh my God, I'm hearty sorry for having offended the United States. Every night before I go to sleep, act of contrition. Because I know if I don't wake up the next morning, I want to be right with God. And I'm going to tell you, when I blow it big time, and I blow it big time, all of us have a little bit of David inside of us. Amen? I tell two people right now, all of us have a little David inside of us. Tell two people. When I blow it big time, I go to the sacrament of confession, and I do it Jesus' way. Jesus Christ in John chapter 20 verse 21, He told the twelve apostles, He said, Peace I give you. He said, and He breathed on them the Holy Spirit. And He said, Whoever sins you forgive, they are forgiven. And whoever sins you retain, they are retained. Jesus Christ, the high priest, the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 1, Jesus Christ, the high priest, the author and finisher of our faith, He has given the authority to the apostles and their successors to be the ministers of reconciliation, as St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17 to 19. It is the church of God, the church of Jesus Christ, by and on the apostles and Peter, that has the ministry of reconciliation, reconciling men to God. I want to close with a prayer, but before I do, I just want to exhort you one last thing. Some of you are going to say, I can't Jesse, I can't live for the Lord, it's too hard. I'm too nasty. I'm like David, I'm too nasty, I can't live for the Lord. Yeah you can, you can live for the Lord. It is the devil that's saying, you can't, you can't. The devil wants to put those four letter words in your ear. But you know what? Look at the patriarchs in times past. There's no excuses men. Noah, the next time that you feel like, you cannot live for the Lord, live for God, remember this? Noah was a drunk, Abraham was too old, Isaac was a daydreamer, Jacob was a liar, Leah was not very pretty, Joseph was abused, Moses had a stuttering problem, Gideon was afraid, Samson had long hair and he was a womanizer too, Rahab was a prostitute, Jeremiah and Timothy said they were too young, David had an affair and he was a murderer, Elijah was suicidal, Isaiah preached naked in Jerusalem, Jonah ran from God, Job went bankrupt, Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist ate bugs, Peter denied Jesus, the disciples fell asleep afraid, Martha worried about everything, Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, the Samaritan woman was divorced more than once, Nicaeus was too small, Paul was too religious, Timothy had an ulcer, and Lazarus was dead. So no more excuses, men. God is waiting for your full potential. After all, you're not the message, you're just the messenger. Don't say no to Jesus, because if you say no to Jesus, you may die tonight in your sins. The Lord is mercy. We need to let the world know that our God is mercy, and that He is light, He is truth, and He has called us all out of darkness into this wonderful light. We are the light of the world, for the world has sunk into darkness, and you men of God need to bring Jesus Christ into your families, your neighborhoods, into the world. We need to saturate this great country with the sacred heart of Jesus. And brothers and sisters, you're not alone. You've got the same spirit that brought King David back to repentance, and you've got the same spirit that descended upon Our Lady, where she could be called full of grace. Let's close with a word of prayer. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. O Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change. Lord, give me the courage to change the things that I can. And Lord, give me wisdom, the wisdom to know the difference. We ask all this in Jesus' strong name, through Mary's great, powerful intercession, and the intercession of all the angels and saints, Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Amen.