St. Isaac Jogues: The Ultimate Example of a Faithful Disciple (Ken)

Drawing on the wisdom of St. Alphonsus, we explore the dangers of following Jesus "at a distance," like St. Peter, who denied Christ in the moment of testing. Lukewarmness—choosing comfort over sacrifice—creeps in when self-love takes priority over love for God. But true friendship with Jesus is proven through sacrifice, just as He showed His love for us on the cross.
We also reflect on the heroic devotion of St. Isaac Jogues, a Jesuit missionary who endured unimaginable suffering to bring the Catholic faith to others. His story inspires us to reject lukewarmness and embrace a life of courage, faith, and evangelization.

Transcript

Hey welcome back to Advent daily it's good to see you thanks for being here here's the thought of the day are you a friend of Jesus or are you a fan of Jesus are you a friend or are you a fan but what's the difference well a fan of Jesus is led by emotion a friend of Jesus is led by devotion a fan of Jesus follows him when it's easy and convenient uh a friend of Jesus follows him despite the convenience a fan of Jesus starts cheering for somebody else when everyone else around them does a friend of Jesus has his eyes fixed on Jesus alone so are you a friend or are you a fan and this is what St Alphonsus hits today he he talks about this flip-flopping and really what it's what he's talking about is Luke Warmness today he describes about a man who followed Jesus at a distance St alasa says many wish to follow Jesus Christ as St Peter did who when the master was arrested in the garden says St Matthew followed him AAR off but by doing so that will easily happen to them which happened to St Peter namely when the occasion came he denied Jesus Christ now what's the problem with following Jesus at a distance well you think things are fine until you are attested and is is in it's in the testing where our faith is revealed for example it's easy to praise God when you're on the Mountaintop it's easy to give thanks to him when you're full of consolation but then you descend into the valley of d olation and that is where our faith gets tested see a fan will praise God on the Mountaintop but abandon him in the valley St Peter followed Jesus at a distance and then he was tested aren't you one of his followers and he denied Jesus what was the source of him denying Jesus well it was self-love which is the reason Reon why we fail our tests as well doesn't it come to self-love we love ourselves in areas of our life more than we love Jesus so all of us struggle with this we are all at one point in some areas of our life are more fans than friends but the key of becoming a friend of Jesus is getting rid of that self-love so that we can lay down our life for our Lord because love proves itself through sacrifice you don't really love somebody unless you're willing to sacrifice for them and we can see this to be true with our relationship with Jesus he he proved his love through sacrifice and so to be a friend to be his follower to be his disciple we must be willing to do the same and when we flipflop between the struggle of laying down our life for him and just kind of being a fan of him on the Mountaintop we we are struggling with to lukewarmness and how does Jesus see lukewarmness well this is what he said to St FASA my soul suffered the most Dreadful Loathing in the garden of olives because of lukewarm Souls well that doesn't sound very nice we don't want to be a lukewarm Soul right so then it leads us to another question well what are the characteristics of a lukewarm Soul Jesus says this is St fostina there are souls who D my efforts Souls without love or devotion Souls full of egoism and selfishness proud and arrogant Souls full of Deceit and hypocrisy lukewarm Souls who have just enough warmth to keep them alive my heart cannot bear this and this is consistent with Revelations 3:15 and 16 where Jesus says I know your works and you're neither hot nor cold and because you're neither hot or cold what is he going to do I will spit you out of my mouth kind of harsh so what what is this lukewarmness notice that Jesus starts off in in Revelations 3:15 I know your Works you're neither hot nor cold he didn't say I know how you feel you're neither hot nor cold no he see he pointed to Works in other words being lukewarm is a matter of Truth Choice it's a matter of the will not of the emotions which is really nice because we have very little control over emotions sometimes our emotions are up our emotions are down um that's the problem with being a fan you're led by your emotions and so when they're up you go with God and when you're down you you don't but Jesus says no it's not a matter of emotions I know your Works in other words I know how you live what you choose and because you're neither hot nor cold I will spit you out of my mouth so I I do find this actually quite consoling because sometimes we get confused about this lukewarmness it's like oh my passions are aren't always on fire for Jesus welcome to [Music] life let's not worry about our emotions let's worry about our devotion which which I mean by what are we choosing how are we choosing to live that is what is important here now I'd like to introduce to you a friend of Jesus his name is St Isaac jog he was ordained in 1636 as a Jesuit and four months after his ordination he came to North America to bring the Catholic faith to the Native Americans now here's a guy who understood the danger of being associated with that man he understood in fact he wrote this in a letter these iroquis swore if they ever took another Frenchman captive they would burn him alive over a slow fire in the same way that they inflicted the darest tortures on their other prisoners now imagine coming to Canada as a young newly ordained priest full of excitement to bring the Catholic faith to the Native Americans and you hear that um well if they catch another Frenchman and you're French they're going to roast you what does that do to your Devotion to Jesus Christ for most people kind of put a damper on it kind of put the fire out but he remained devoted he remained devoted to Jesus Christ despite the danger on August 1st 1664 s Isaac Z and his companions were captured by 70 Mohawks he was beaten unconscious his fingernails were tore out and some of his fingers were bit off St Isaac was held a prisoner for seven months and endured brutal tortures and what did he do during this time during the suffering that his devotion go out did his faith dwindle on the contrary in the midst of his suffering he baptized 70 people as they were dying over those 17 months he remained devoted to Jesus again he was not a fan he was a friend Circumstances had it that he was able to escape and he ended up back in France and when he arrived there the people of France were just enamored by the U Canadian missionaries and they wanted to know what was happening even the Queen of England wanted to meet him so imagine you leave this torturous brutal situation you go back to France and you're treated like a celebrity you would think that perhaps that might go to you once's head and think okay i' I've given enough to Jesus in fact I'm missing my fingers now I'll just resume my duties here in France where it's a little bit easier but no he wasn't caught up with the emotion he wasn't caught up with the Fanfare 4 months later he returned to Canada knowing that he would likely never go back to France and again why did he come back to Canada it was for the purpose of bringing the Catholic faith to the Native Americans was he worried about the dangers of colonization no he was worried about evangelization bringing Jesus Christ to people who did not believe on one particular occasion him and another companion were going to meet the iraa for this purpose to bring the faith to them and when they arrived let's say the IRA were just not very pleased to see him they called him a black rope they were suspicious of him because when he had showed up earlier well pandemics had broken out and they blamed him for all these sicknesses well the next day on October 18th St Isaac J was killed by a hatchet Blow To The Head he passed the test as if we find ourselves in lukewarmness what can we do we can appeal to those Martyrs who gave their life for Jesus Christ know when we struggle with our self- love flip-flopping back and forth between being a fan and a friend we can go to them and say pray for us that we would be devoted Ed to Jesus Christ St Isaac J pray for us let us pray oh my God reject me not as I deserve for I will amend my life I know full well that a life negligent as mine cannot satisfy Thee I know that I have by my lukewarmness shut the door of my heart Against The Graces which thou did desire to bestow upon me oh oh Lord do not abandon me yet a while I will arise from my miserable State I will for the future be more careful to overcome my passions to follow thy Inspirations and I will never through slothfulness omit my duties I will perform them with greater diligence in short I will from this time forward do all I can to please thee and I will neglect nothing which I know to be pleasing to thee