I was in St.
Louis,
Missouri,
Giving a workshop,
Kind of a weekend workshop.
There was a priest there who came to see me.
He said about three months ago,
I assisted an AIDS victim on his deathbed.
And the man told me the following.
He said,
Father,
The doctor told me I had six months to live.
You know something,
Father?
These have been the six happiest months of my whole misspent life.
Happiest.
In fact,
I've never been happy till these six months.
I discovered happiness.
He said,
As soon as the doctor told me that,
I dropped tension,
Pressure,
Anxiety,
Hope,
And fell not into despair but into happiness at last.
He is another guy who had it,
Who found it.
And the priest said,
You know,
Many years of the time,
I've been reflecting on the words of that man.
Philippians,
That's what he's talking about.
I had read it all my life and had never understood it.
I mean,
He was staring at me,
Staring me in the face,
Then grasped it.
Listen to what Philippians says,
For whatever the situation I find myself in,
I have learned to be self-sufficient.
I am experienced in being brought low.
And I have known what it meant to have abundance.
I have learned how to cope with every circumstance.
How to eat well or to go hungry.
To be well provided for or to do without.
I have learned to cope with every circumstance.
How to eat well or to go hungry.
To be well provided for.
To rejoice or to do without.
Rejoice always.
Rejoice in the Lord.
I think of that AIDS victim in St.
Louis.
That's what he's talking about.
Rejoice.
Okay,
Let's suppose you want to grasp.
Let's suppose you want to see it.
What do you have to do?
A,
Understand a couple of truths about yourself.
First,
Your life is in a mess.
People will say to me,
What do you mean my life is in a mess?
I got good relations.
Everybody likes me.
I'm doing well and I have a pretty brilliant career ahead of me.
Oh yeah?
You think your life is not in a mess?
He says no.
All right,
Tell me.
Here's the acid test.
Ever feel lonely?
Any heartache?
Ever get upset by anything?
You mean aren't we supposed to get upset?
You want the clean,
Clear,
Simple answer?
No.
You mean not be upset by anything?
No.
Shut up.
You're not here anymore.
See what I mean?
No.
He got a theory.
He's got a theory.
You got to be upset or you're not human.
Go ahead and be upset.
Good luck.
Ever suffer any interior conflict?
You mean all your relationships are going well with everybody?
Well,
No.
Your life is in a mess.
No.
You mean you're enjoying every single minute of your life?
Not quite.
See what I told you?
It's in a mess.
I know because I was doing that all along.
You either face the fact that your life is in a mess or you don't.
Your life is in a mess means you're a victim of heartache,
At least occasionally.
You feel lonely.
There's emptiness staring at you.
You're scared.
You're scared?
Yeah.
It's in a mess.
You mean we're not supposed to be scared?
No sir or madam.
We're not supposed to be scared about anything.
Fearlessness.
You don't know what it means.
And the tragedy is you don't think it's available.
It's so easy to get.
Since they told you it's not available,
You never try to find it.
But it's right here all over the Bible and you won't see it because they told you it's not available.
You anxious for the future?
Any whiff of anxiety,
Worry,
Upset?
You're in a mess.
Want to clean it up?
I'll clean it up for you in five minutes,
Depending on how ready you are.
You don't have to move out of that chair.
You could be sitting in that chair and you would clean it up in five minutes.
And I mean that.
This isn't a sales gimmick.
I mean it.
It's so simple and it's so deadly serious that people miss it.
I think back on my own life and I think,
Why did I waste it?
I wasted it.
And all kinds of wonderful things,
Believe me.
Pastoral ministries,
Theological enterprises,
Liturgical services,
Et cetera,
Et cetera,
Et cetera.
You know,
The more occupied we are in the things of God,
We priests,
The more likely we are to forget what God is all about.
And the more complacent we're likely to become.
I think I wasted it.
I don't have a minute to regret.
Why waste even a minute regretting the past?
Okay.
But the fact is I wasted it.
Reminded of that powerful story of the fishermen who goes out early in the morning to fish and it's too whatever.
I don't understand these things,
But apparently it's too dark or something.
And his foot hits upon something that seems like a sack.
So he picks it up,
Probably washed ashore from some shipwreck or whatever.
Then he opens it and he can feel pebbles inside.
So he takes these pebbles and he entertains himself till it's dawn.
See by flinging those pebbles far out into the sea and to see if he can judge from the plop how far he sent the pebble.
Well,
When it becomes a bit light and the dawn begins to,
Or the day begins to dawn,
He looks into the sack and he finds three precious stones there.
God they were filled with precious stones and he hadn't known it.
Too late,
Too late,
Too late,
Too late,
Not too late.
Three stones still,
Not too late.
Let's suppose this guy,
He's starving.
He got it in his head that that's a stone.
Refuses to listen.
No,
That's a stone.
Now that's the condition of people everywhere.
They won't hear you.
They won't listen.
You're telling them life is extraordinary.
Life is delightful.
You could enjoy it.
You wouldn't have a minute of tension.
Not one,
No pressure,
No anxiety.
You want it?
Not possible.
Never been done.
Cannot be done.
No spirit of research,
Of investigation.
Let's find out.
Let's go.
No,
No,
No.
Can't be done.
I don't want to hear you.
I mean,
Our priests have told us it can't be done.
Our psychologists tell us it cannot be done.
All right.
So,
The first thing,
Are you ready to admit that your life is in a mess?
Second,
This is a bit tougher,
Okay?
You don't want to get out of it.
You do not want to get out of the mess.
Talk to any psychologist who's worth his name and he'll confirm that.
The last thing a client wants is a cure.
He doesn't want to get cured.
He wants relief.
Eric Byrne,
One of your great psychiatrists here in the United States,
He says,
Imagine a client who's up to his nose in a cesspool and he's coming to you.
He say,
Could you help me so people won't make waves?
That's what he want.
He doesn't want to get out.
He doesn't.
You want to test that on yourself?
Because you could be blissfully happy,
But you're not going to get that degree.
Ready to barter your degree for happiness?
You're not going to get that girlfriend of yours or that boyfriend,
Ready to barter them for happiness?
You know something?
You're not going to be a success.
You're going to fail and everybody say he's a bum,
But you'll be happy.
You'll be blissfully happy.
Ready to barter the good opinion of people for that?
What about it?
