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The CU Catecast with Fr. Ryan Humphries
Fr Ryan continues his series of introductions to each book of the Bible with The Book of Malachi
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the historical books we've done the
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Psalms the wisdom books the Major
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Prophets The Minor Prophets and now we
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reach Malachi or Malachi depending on
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whether you prefer more uh kind of a
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uridic slash Aramaic translation or
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pronunciation or a more Greek
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pronunciation most Americans say Malachi
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so I'm going to stick with that Malachi
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is the pronunciation that I was taught
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in seminary I guess because it sounds
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more pretentious I don't know but but
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Malachi is who we're talking about today
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the last of the Minor Prophets and
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technically in most American
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constructions most Modern English
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constructions of the Bible we have
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Malachi and then we have the books of
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Maccabees I of course put the books of
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Maccabees back with the historical books
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uh and and so we are looking at the last
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of the books even though if you're going
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to going through the actual Bible in
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your hand you're looking and saying
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there's still two books left the two
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books of
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um of the um whoever I just said but
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we'll uh we'll we'll knock out the Book
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of Malachi today and so very much like
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Nehemiah
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Malachi is writing about the temple and
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he's writing at a very very specific
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moment in history which is why he's so
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important for scripture Scholars and the
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like so he's writing after the temple
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has been rebuilt so that's 515 BC the
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temple has been rebuilt after the end of
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the Babylonian exile but Malachi is
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writing before
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Ezra's book is actually written in about
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four 45 BC so we're looking at a very
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specific window here the temple is back
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but king or brother the priest Ezra has
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not come in yet and actually kind of
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Knocked everybody's heads around and got
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them all in order and so we're right
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here in that interim window in 450 or so
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BC and the prophet Malachi is ready to
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go now Malachi or Malachi is a Hebrew
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word that just means my messenger
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uh it is not necessarily a proper name
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and because the word doesn't even show
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up until the third chapter almost the
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the late middle of the book it's not
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necessarily likely that there was some
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cat named Malachi walking around going
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I'm Malachi and I'm the prophet who's
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saying these things it is entirely
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possible that this is a pen name it is
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entirely possible that the
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capitalization is accidental and the
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profit is simply operating anonymously
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and so we have no idea
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Malachi was a very very common name so
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it could be a bunch of different things
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we don't really know anything about the
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prophet beyond that fact now the theme
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of the book and this is where things get
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important the book is four chapters long
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the theme is now we have this nice fancy
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new Temple let's not be jerks about The
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Way We Worship the Lord in it
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um basically we don't want to lose touch
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with the authenticity of worship just
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because we've now finished the temple
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that doesn't mean we're done this is in
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a certain sense parallel to we've built
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now this big expensive fancy new church
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and now we can kind of say well I don't
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have to take my faith as seriously
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anymore because we're done with it where
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my parents who have actually they just
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built a new 13 million dollar church and
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everybody was very engaged you know
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fundraisers and and prayer nights and
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vigils and stuff like that but now the
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church is done and paid for and all of a
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sudden attendance said that Holy hours
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has gone down attendance and mass has
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gone down and so it's something that's
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very very human that we see in the Book
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of Malachi now remember
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Maliki his purpose here is to tell
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people to be authentic in worship and so
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his book his prophecy really gives us
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that business I mean he slams the
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business that worship cannot be
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self-centered it cannot be neglectful of
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the pure worship of God we're here to
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worship for God's sake and not for hours
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and if you'd like to see what
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self-centered worship looks like with
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over emphasized interest and personal
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preferences to the detriment of the
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worship of God I would like to invite
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you to or direct you rather to 90
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percent of the Catholic churches in the
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United States where their interest there
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is primarily about what we want and only
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in a very distant way what God wants I
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can also direct you to 99.9 percent of
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seminaries around the world where they
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are begging priests to behave in exactly
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that way because it's just easier to get
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along
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that makes Malachi an incredibly
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relevant book even for us today because
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it is it is absolutely common to walk
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into a Catholic church or a Protestant
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church or whatever and have people be
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rambling on about how this is the way we
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prefer it or this is the way we do it
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here or this is the tradition of the way
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we have it there's actually a church not
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far from here that has just transitioned
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from being a church that's run by a
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religious order for many many years to
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being run by the diocese and one of the
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hard things the priest had to say is
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that several people came up and said
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well the franciscans always did it this
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way and the priest basically had to look
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at them and say and it failed which is
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why the franciscans aren't running this
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Parish anymore they couldn't maintain it
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because they got no vocations because
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their way of doing things failed
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and that's an incredibly uncomfortable
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thing to have to say to somebody but
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that's kind of what Malachi is coming
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out and saying he's saying look you have
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the nice big beautiful Temple but you've
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got to maintain authentic worship you
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can't just rest on your laurels
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now Malachi tells us that the Holiness
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of the Jewish people consists almost
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entirely in their worship it's not about
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earning salvation by doing the right
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things moral living is secondary to the
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religious component of worship it is not
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the big thing we do and I've preached
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about this before frequently where we
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get into our heads the idea that as long
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as I'm living a moral life as long as
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I'm a good person then I'm okay with the
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Lord but that's Buddhism Buddhism says
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as long as I'm doing what needs to be
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done and following the Eightfold Path
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then I'm good with the universe we don't
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believe that worship is the driving
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component of Catholicism and it is the
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driving component of Judaism that's one
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of the reasons that if you can actually
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make a compelling argument that
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Catholicism is closer to Judaism than it
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is to Baptists or president
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Presbyterians or Methodist or even
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episcopalians because worship has to be
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the center of what makes Jews Jews and
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so Malachi argues that if we disconnect
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from that we are not good Jews he also
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says look fear of the Lord AKA reverence
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in the context of Temple worship is the
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Beating Heart of Judaism and so he does
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this by means of six oracles across
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three chapters and then we have two kind
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of appendices that add in for the fourth
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chapter so number one the lord loves
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Israel in spite of her many many many
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many many many many many many many many
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many many many
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faults the Lord is there for Israel but
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Israel has got some troubles and needs
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to recognize them number two
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the priests and the Levites have been
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unfaithful by neglecting the standards
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of worship especially as it relates to
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the offering of sacrifices and the
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teaching of the law especially the
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teaching of the law about sacrifices and
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so just as now and just as then the
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priests are to blame there was a priest
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some years ago who famously said all the
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evil in the world today is the fault of
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priests I could not agree more and
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Malachi would absolutely agree certainly
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as he gets into the second of those
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intense oracles the third Oracle says
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God hates divorce and he hates
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Interfaith marriage we're not going to
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dig into that too much it was something
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that was very very big issue and we
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think Interfaith marriage we tend to
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think oh well Catholic and a Baptist
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that causes some drama we're talking
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here about a Jew and somebody who might
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worship multiple gods and want to bring
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you know a play pigeon into the house
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and say this is an icon of my God and so
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there's a very very different kind of
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GrooVe when you say well I'm I'm
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marrying a Christian who doesn't really
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get Christianity right to I'm marrying
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someone who is an active practitioner of
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Wicca right I mean even nowadays we
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would say I can't approve of a Catholic
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marrying a Wiccan I can't approve of a
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Catholic who's marrying a Hindu because
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that's going to cause real trouble and
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so when we think Interfaith marriage we
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don't want to think Catholic Baptists we
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want to thank Catholic Hindu we want to
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thank Catholic Wiccan things that are
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really going to butt heads on every
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aspect of the marital life the fourth of
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the prophet of the the oracles rather is
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that the Lord is going to come and
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purify both the temple and the Levites
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the the priests which is a big deal
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because it's one thing for us to say the
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Lord is going to have a Remnant that
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comes through with the idea being that a
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messiah is going to come with a stick
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and Beat to Death everybody who's
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Troublesome which is basically the way
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that they were we see or we have seen in
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the Minor Prophets but here we have the
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idea the Lord will purify them not by
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destroying them but by coming into the
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temple and through right worship he will
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make things better
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the fifth Oracle talks about the
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prosperity of the land and how it will
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come back when the people really begin
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to tithe now again we're not thinking
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about tithing in the Joel Olsteen sins
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where we got to keep the lights on we're
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thinking about tithing as a way of
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saying that which I care about I invest
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my entire self in and so the idea of
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tithing is a spiritual act that is not
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about keeping the lights in the church
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on it is about saying I want to give the
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Lord my whole heart soul mind and
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strength and part of that is giving the
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lord of the physical wealth I have
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because if I invest that I myself am
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going to connect with how important it
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is it's kind of like if you have a guy's
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poker night and everybody doesn't and
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the tithe there's a sack of chips or
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something like that I've been to those
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poker nights nobody cares you know you
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feel like you want to get up and leave
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you just say I'm all in and you just get
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up and walk away but if you put in 50
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bucks or something like that just enough
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where you feel like I really need to see
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this through to the end because I put
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money into this it works the same way
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with tithing there's a there's a degree
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of human mindset where the investment
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itself matters and so the idea that the
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prosperity of the land will return when
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the people take the tithing especially
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as it relates to the temple more
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seriously and then the sixth of the
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oracles those who fear the lord who
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reverence the temple and keep his
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Commandments will be saved on the day of
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judgment so we get that in four chapters
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six of these oracles the lord loves
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Israel in spite of its faults the
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priests and Levites have been unfaithful
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God hates Interfaith marriage the Lord
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will surely come to purify the temple
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Prosperity will return with tithing and
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those who fear the Lord will keep his
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Commandments and be saved on the day of
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judgment and and then we get to
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appendices in chapter four one about
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Moses one about Elijah these definitely
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were added later uh and they they kind
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of are are meant to draw in Moses and
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Elijah to the understanding of the
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temple now Malachi's concern for worship
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also foreshadows our own Catholic faith
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right at the beginning chapter 1 verse 1
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we get the Oracle for from the rising of
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the sun to its setting my name is great
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among the Nations and in every place
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incense is offered to my name and a pure
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offering for my name is great among the
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Nations says the Lord of hosts and it's
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easy to see the Eucharist there it's
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easy to see mass in some of the
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components of mass in that the idea of
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offering a pure offering from the rising
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of the sun to its setting and so each of
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these things kind of connects together
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to say that the temple the temple is abs
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absolutely essential in authentic
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worship is what we need to do here even
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the place where Malachi's name is
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revealed feels like something that could
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come right out of the Gospel so this is
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Malachi 3 1. behold I send my Messenger
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to prepare the way before you and the
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Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to
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his Temple the messenger that's Malachi
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the messenger of the Covenant in whom
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you Delight behold he is coming says the
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Lord of hosts that's something you could
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find in Luke's gospel you know it's very
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very much a book that is relevant to our
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own age even though it was written in
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450 BC and so that's the Book of Malachi
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it's a great one it's easy and it is
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very very relevant to our own day and
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time
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next time we will be looking at a a
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numerical timeline of the Old Testament
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so we're going to say you know what's
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the story with Abraham and ER and let's
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walk through what happened all the way
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through until we get to the youngest
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books of the New Testament the book of
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wisdom just a couple hundred years
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before Jesus shows up and then I will
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give a brief timeline about when the
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gospels are written when Saint Paul was
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writing that kind of thing that will
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take us about a half an hour should be a
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pretty interesting talk I've enjoyed
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writing it so far and then from there we
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will do a thematic timeline of the Old
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Testament talking about kind of the big
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themes of the pentateuch the big themes
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moving forward of the historical books
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and so on and so forth and then once
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we're done with that we'll shift gears
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and we'll be in the New Testament and so
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we'll be talking about the gospels we'll
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be talking about the book of Acts and
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then we'll be making our way through
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Saint Paul's letters all the way up to
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the Book of Revelation and then at the
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very end and I will probably do a talk
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that just kind of summarizes up the the
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story of the Bible and then we'll do uh
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one more talk a final talk of this
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series which will be on how to read the
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Bible in a spiritual sense uh the the
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act of lectio Divina the reading of
15:24
scripture in a spiritual sense and so
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that's what we have coming up ahead of
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us but it has been a wonderful gift to
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make our way through the Old Testament
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together and I hope to see you in the
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future I've been Father Ryan Humphries
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this has been the CU catechest and I
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hope you have a lovely day